Wounded at the front last year and having spent several months in hospital, he also wants the conflict to end.
Posted on 06/15/2026 7:08:47 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Inside a majestic domed church at one of Russia's oldest monasteries, bearded priests in red-and-gold frocks recite prayers calling for "victory" in the four-year war against Ukraine.
But on the cobbled streets of the Pskov-Pechersky grounds -- close to the border with NATO and EU member Estonia -- some Orthodox pilgrims were more concerned with bringing the conflict to an end, as soon as possible.
"The Church prays for the soldiers. We pray for only one thing right now: we pray for peace," said Valentina, a 69-year-old pensioner.
Institutionally, the Russian Orthodox Church has stood full-square behind President Vladimir Putin since he launched Russia's offensive on Ukraine in 2022…
For believer Valentina, the war in Ukraine has left deep scars in Russian society.
"You can feel that there is no unity in society. Society is divided. Many people do not understand what is happening," she said.
Her only consolation is prayer, she said.
"We have nothing else left."
Yulia, a 45-year-old economist, prays that her son will not be called up to fight, and for "the war to end as soon as possible."
"The Church's position saddens me," said Arina, a 42-year-old Moscow psychologist who rarely attends services and no longer goes to confession.
"Now, when I look at a priest, the first thing I think is: I wonder if he supports the war or not," she said, adding that she had "immense respect" for the few who "condemn this war."
Galina, a 49-year-old teacher, said she had "even thought about converting to Catholicism."
Opinion polls point to growing fatigue with the war across Russian society.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Wounded at the front last year and having spent several months in hospital, he also wants the conflict to end.
The Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarch) functions like just another branch of the Russian government with no independence. It head Kirill, was a former KGB agent who has declared a "Holy War" against Ukraine and that Russian soldiers who die in the line of duty in Ukraine have all of their sins forgiven.
WCC “cannot reconcile” World Russian People’s Council decree describing Ukraine conflict as “Holy War”
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, on behalf of WCC member churches, said that the WCC cannot reconcile the Decree of the XXV World Russian People's Council describing the conflict in Ukraine as a “Holy War.”
“Among other concerns arising from the recent decree,” said Pillay, “the World Council of Churches cannot reconcile the statement that ‘the special military operation [in Ukraine] is a Holy War’ with what we have heard directly from Patriarch Kirill himself, nor with relevant WCC governing body policy pronouncements, nor indeed with the biblical calling for Christians to be peacemakers in the midst of conflict.”
In a meeting with the WCC general secretary in Moscow in May 2023, Patriarch Kirill said that any references he had made to “Holy War" in the current context were related to the metaphysical realm, not to the physical armed conflict in Ukraine. He agreed with the WCC general secretary that no war of armed violence can be “holy.”
“The decree contradicts this position,” Pillay noted.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, WCC’s highest governing bodies – the central committee in June 2022, and the WCC 11th Assembly in September 2022 – have strongly affirmed the position that “war is incompatible with God’s very nature and will for humanity and against our fundamental Christian and ecumenical principles.”
They explicitly denounced the invasion of Ukraine as “illegal and unjustifiable.” In addition, they rejected “any misuse of religious language and authority to justify armed aggression and hatred.”
https://www.oikoumene.org/news/wcc-cannot-reconcile-world-russian-peoples-council-decree-describing-ukraine-conflict-as-holy-war
Indeed. Thank you for sharing. My heart goes out to the faithful who are betrayed by all of this.
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