The struggle for peace and justice belongs to the core of Christianity while noting that this pacifist mood passes through interfaith dialogue, mainly between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, which have common origins in the wider Mediterranean area.
That’s according to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who performed a Trisagion service for the repose of the soul of Metropolitan Ilias of Philomelion and for the rest of the Orthodox Christian victims of the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 2022, the Orthodox Times reports.
“It is tragic that religions, instead of acting as forces of reconciliation, contribute to the increase of hatred,” said the Ecumenical Patriarch, pointing out that in the history of humanity, peace has never been a self-evident situation, but sacrifices and initiatives by inspired personalities were required.
“The message of religions must be the rejection of war violence as a means of resolving differences between peoples,” he pointed out, while in particular referring to the war in Ukraine, describing it as an unfair war against the heroic people of Ukraine.
