Press Release – February 24, 2022
For Immediate ReleaseDownload PDF

STATEMENT ON THE Fratricide IN UKRAINE

OPAC Calls for Soldiers To Lay Down Their Arms

The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee (OPAC) decries the Russian invasion of Ukraine and calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of all Russian forces.

The peoples of Ukraine and Russia are of the same family. Their mothers and grandmothers are of one common spiritual ancestry. Do the mothers and grandmothers of Russia truly desire their sons and daughters to spill the blood of their spiritual brothers and sisters? This is a war without cause and the imperialistic aspirations of one man can never justify this destructive fratricide.

OPAC calls for the soldiers of both Russia and Ukraine to lay down their arms and refuse to kill their spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ. The Ukrainian people have suffered at the hands of tsarist autocrats, soviet commissars, and dictatorial kleptocrats for long enough.

As the Divine Liturgy so beautifully states, OPAC prays “For the peace of the whole world, for the stability of the holy churches of God, and for the unity of all” and we ask all churches of the world to do the same.

Contact: Info@OrthodoxPac.org

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