Patriarch Condemns Russia’s War, Atrocities in Ukraine

“The ongoing wars in the world today are the cause of grief, particularly the one in our neighborhood which Russia is waging in Ukraine, where horrible facts and the worst of atrocities are taking place,” Georgian Orthodox Patriarch Ilia II has said in his Easter epistle.

“That is why we all owe a special prayer and effort for peace.”

The Easter message of Patriarch, 89, was read by out by a senior Orthodox cleric in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi just before midnight on April 23, prior to the Paschal Vigil.

As per the epistle, the wars are “disaster,” as they “take the lives of thousands of people, violate all laws, morals, values, bring destruction and material-cultural damage, sow cruelty and widespread hatred.”

“The current situation is such that no one can tell anymore what tomorrow will bring and how events will unfold; processes may end soon, or turn into long-running confrontation, or we may all face a global catastrophe,” it continued.

“In this situation, it is important and necessary to show compassion and kindness to the victims of war (the wounded, the captives, the hungry, the children, the women, the elderly, the sick, and so on) to overcome evil.”

The Easter message also reads that while human beings need to wage “inevitable war” on themselves to overcome egoistic mindset, “most people are not waging wars on themselves, but against neighbors, trying to achieve their egoistic goals through greed and confrontation.”

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