WCC appeals to Patriarch Kirill to raise up his voice for peace

By Lisa Zengarini

As Churches across the world joined in prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine on 2 March, Ash Wednesday, the acting Secretary General of the World Council of Churches (WCC) urged Patriarch Kirill of Moscow to raise up his voice so that the war can be stopped immediately.

Call for  mediation

In a letter addressed to the Patriarch, Rev. Ian Sauca specifically asked the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to mediate with the authorities to find a negotiated solution of the conflict.

“In these times of hopelessness, many look to you as the one who could bring a sign of hope for a peaceful solution,” wrote the Romanian Orthodox priest reminding that most of the “suffering brothers and sisters” in Ukraine “are also faithful members of our Orthodox Church.”

Lent season: a time of reconciliation

As both Western and Eastern Churches prepare to celebrate the Lenten Season, beginning respectively on Ash Wednesday and on  the Sunday of Forgiveness, on March 6, Rev. Sauca points out that these powerful moments of the Christian calendars call “to repentance, peace and reconciliation”.

“While celebrating these spiritual moments, with filial respect and consideration I write to Your Holiness to intervene and mediate with the authorities to stop this war, the bloodshed and the suffering, and to make efforts to bring peace through dialogue and negotiations", Sauca concluded.

WCC's appeals

Since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis leading to the Russian invasion, on 24 February the World Council of Churches (WCC), which gathers Churches, denominations representing more than 500 million Christians, including most of Eastern Orthodox Churches, has intensified its appeals for de-escalation and peace.

On February 25, Rev. Sauca expressed the WCC’s full support to the appeal launched by His Beatitude Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine (the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that is linked to the Moscow Patriarchate, ed) who on the previous day had called directly on President Vladimir Putin to stop aggression, which he likened to Cain's murder of Abel.

A fratricidal war

Also over 200 clerics of the Russian Orthodox Church have joined this week in calling for an end to the war which they termed as "fratricidal". The appeal came following the Sunday of the Last Judgement and in the week before Forgiveness Sunday (the two Sundays preceding Great Lent in the Eastern calendar).