CHURCH MUST PREVENT RUSSIANS AND UKRAINIANS FROM BECOMING ENEMIES- PATRIARCH KIRILL

Sat 07 January 2023:

Russians and Ukrainians are one country and the church must take every precaution to prevent them from becoming adversaries, Patriarch Kirill of Russia, said on Saturday.

“This is a single nation who came out of Kiev’s Epiphany font, but a very large people spread from the White to the Black Sea. And this enormity always caused fears and envy among others; therefore, since ancient times, external forces have worked to divide this people, pull them away, or even pit one with another,” the patriarch said in an interview with the Russian broadcaster Rossiya 1.

He added that Ukraine is trying to create a “civilizational prerequisite” for the separation of Russians and Ukrainians.

“Of course, the future depends on how ‘successful’ all this activity aimed at creating a gap between two parts of the same nation will be. But the church must do everything so that in no case do Ukrainians and Russians become enemies,” the patriarch concluded.

Prior to this, Patriarch Kirill requested a 36-hour pause in operations so that people might attend church services on January 6, which is Orthodox Christmas in both countries, and January 7, respectively.

Olexiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defense council, rejected the truce offer on Thursday. Washington and Berlin also rejected the offer. US President Joe Biden suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “trying to find some oxygen,” while German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock argued that a truce would bring “neither freedom nor security.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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