Patriarch Kirill on the beginning of negotiations to settle the crisis in Ukraine

June 2014

On June 24, the press service of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia published the following statement His Holiness made on the negotiations which have started for settling the crisis in Ukraine:

With hope I have taken the news about the beginning of negotiation process in Ukraine with the aim to put an end to the bloody fratricide and to ensure a lasting peace with justice.

God grant that the military confrontation may be ended forever, that the fratricide may not resume, that the sides may come to mutually acceptable decisions as soon as possible to ensure the rights and freedoms of all Ukrainian citizens regardless of their political views and value preferences.

A call to prayer for Ukraine has been heard throughout the space of historical Rus’. The multi-million flock of the Russian Orthodox Church in all churches and monasteries has appealed to the Lord with an ardent petition to stop the fratricide. Lifting up this prayer last Sunday in the Cathedral in Tobolsk in western Siberia, I felt the power and trepidation with which people prayed for peace in Ukraine which is thousands of kilometres away but so close to their hearts.

I trust that this conciliar prayer lifted up in Russia and Ukraine and Belarus and in other places will reach God’s throne. Therefore, I call all to multiply their prayer efforts and ask our Lord day after day and from their hearts and minds that the shoots of peace may strike deep roots and be crowned with fraternal accord in the Ukrainian society.

God’s blessing be with all those who take the path of overcoming the fratricidal strife and attaining peace.

+KIRILL
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

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