Today is Clean Monday in the Orthodox Church. The Great Fast has begun. A great way for the fast to proceed would by for Orthodox Russia to stop bombing Orthodox Ukraine. The Orthodox Churches have already appealed to President Putin to stop the bombing.
New appeals should be made in light of the beginning of Great Lent. Politics should be put aside and consideration should be given to the people of Ukraine and the soldiers of both countries. Russia should stop the war and let negotiations proceed.
3 replies on “Great Lent And The War”
It would be nice to see the Orthodox Leadership take the lead in insisting on a ceasefire, Lent provides a good opportunity for this. It bothers me that Erdogan in Turkey is trying to insert himself in as a ‘peacemaker’, hoping that will improve his perception in the region. With just a little bit of effort the Orthodox Patriarch’s could work a ceasefire out, but it seems they’re too tied up in political differences to work together. It would be a shame to see Turkey take a lead in this, they’ll use that leverage to secure other advantages-in fact, that’s the only reason they’re making overtures.
Greece should have been the country to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. Greece however resembles an Orthodox country less and less the more Athens is integrated with Europe. Patriarch Bartholomew has also destroyed relations between Greeks and Russians which makes it difficult for the Greeks to mediate since they are now biased against the Russians.
Turkey is moving in to mediate and will look very good when this war ends. Turkish significance to the west will be greatly improved notwithstanding Turkey is now a center for international jihadism.
Bartholomew has taken actions which will greatly harm Orthodoxy. The Phanar has greatly diminished their perception among Orthodox faithful.