In the United States, even the former eparchy of the Moscow Patriarchate, which a few decades ago had received “autocephaly”, condemned the war Russia is waging against Ukraine.
That’s according to a statement by the Synod of the OCA.
“Witnessing the war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the consequent humanitarian crisis developing there, no Christian can remain impartial or lukewarm in the face of the suffering or remain silent when confronted with such evils as are being perpetrated. As such, we, the bishops of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America, condemn the war which is causing death and devastation affecting millions of innocent people. We particularly grieve the killing and violence committed by Orthodox Christians against other Orthodox Christians,” the statement reads.
“Joining our voice to that of other Christian leaders, who also decry the invasion of Ukraine, we call on the Russian authorities to end the hostilities. Furthermore, we exhort the international community to condemn the war against Ukraine and use all diplomatic means to achieve an expeditious resolution. We proclaim our solidarity with the suffering Orthodox Christian brethren of Ukraine, with the entire Ukrainian people…” the church wrote.
The Holy Synod of Bishops affirmed the letter sent by Metropolitan Tikhon to Patriarch Kirill, asking him to “do whatever possible to end the war in Ukraine and the suffering and death of countless victims.”
The OCA statement was preceded by an open letter from Fr. Denis Bradley, a PhD at Georgetown University, who expressed the sentiments of the clergy and the faithful concerned about the ambiguity of the previous statement, reports the God Against War Telegram channel.
He has expressed concern that the Episcopal leadership of the Orthodox Church in America has not only refused to publicly and directly identify, but instead decided to hide and cover up with its silence and banalities about the evil of war the two main and direct agents responsible for commanding and justifying Russia’s unjust attack on Ukraine: Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, who directly ordered the invasion and continued attacks, and Cyril (Gundyaev), the Moscow patriarch, who willingly “sanctifies” all of Putin’s criminal orders.
