“I write to Your Holiness as acting general secretary of the WCC but also as an Orthodox priest,” Sauca wrote. “Please, raise up your voice and speak on behalf of the suffering brothers and sisters, most of whom are also faithful members of our Orthodox Church.”
In addition, a group of Catholic bishops from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales issued a statement this week calling on “Patriarch Kirill and all in the Russian Orthodox Church” to work to end the war.
Stoeckl said escalating tensions within the Russian Orthodox Church over the invasion could amount to a “watershed moment” for the church. Russian Orthodox leaders stand to lose “all of Ukraine,” she said, and there is evidence of mounting distrust of the church in the region: According to The New York Times, last week an angry crowd in western Ukraine threw a Russian Orthodox priest out of his own church.
Kordochkin, who was born in St. Petersburg, remains focused on the Russian government. After his phone interview, he sent an email saying he worries about the far-reaching repercussions of the invasion for his home country.
He wrote: “What path will it follow? Wealthy, free and open country? Or poverty, isolation and dictatorship?”
This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.
