Letter of the President of the Bishops’ Conference to Kirill: “War is always a defeat for humanity”
“I ask you, Brother, to appeal to Vladimir Putin to stop the senseless warfare against the Ukrainian people, in which innocent people are being killed and suffering is affecting not only soldiers but civilians as well—especially women and children,” wrote the President of the Polish Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki, in a letter sent to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill on March 2nd.
“I ask you in the most humbly to call for the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the sovereign state that is Ukraine,” he wrote. He added that “no reason, no rationale can ever justify the decision to launch a military invasion of an independent country, bombing residential areas, schools, or kindergartens.”
The Episcopate’s president stressed that war is always a defeat for humanity. “This war—as I wrote in the previous letter—is even more senseless because of the proximity of the two nations and their Christian roots. Is it permissible to destroy the cradle of Christianity on Slavic soil, the place where Rus was baptized?” he wrote.
Archbishop Gądecki also asked Kirill to appeal to Russian soldiers “not to take part in this unjust war, to refuse to carry out orders which, as we have already seen, lead to many war crimes.”“Refusing to follow orders in such a situation is a moral obligation,” he noted in the letter. At the same time, he wrote asking Kirill to call on all Orthodox brethren in Russia to fast and pray for “the establishment of a just peace in Ukraine.”
This is the second time the episcopate’s President has addressed Kirill. The previous letter, sent on February 14th, was addressed to the Orthodox and Catholic bishops of Russia and Ukraine. Archbishop Gądecki appealed then to join “the spiritual efforts of Christ's followers of various denominations in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland to avert the specter of another war in our region.”
Press Office of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
Warsaw, 2 March 2022
Your Holiness,I heartily thank you for the words conveyed in the letter of Metropolitan Hilarion yesterday. I share the view of Your Holiness that hostility towards any nation is always unacceptable. We are all brothers, which is why we perceive every misfortune of the Ukrainian or Russian people as our own. Therefore, we wholeheartedly pray for peace in Ukraine.
However, so that our prayer may not be considered an expression of hypocrisy, it must be accompanied by actions. I believe, Your Holiness, that you are a man of peace. Our Lord, Jesus Christ taught: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9). Therefore, I ask you, Brother, to appeal to Vladimir Putin to stop the senseless warfare against the Ukrainian people, in which innocent people are being killed and suffering is affecting not only soldiers but civilians as well—especially women and children. One man can stop the suffering of thousands of people with one word—that man is the President of the Russian Federation. I ask you in the most humbly to call for the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the sovereign state that is Ukraine.
No reason, no rationale can ever justify the decision to launch a military invasion of an independent country, bombing residential areas, schools, or kindergartens. War is always a defeat for humanity. This war—as I wrote in the previous letter—is even more senseless because of the proximity of the two nations and their Christian roots. Is it permissible to destroy the cradle of Christianity on Slavic soil, the place where Rus was baptized?
I also ask you to appeal to Russian soldiers not to take part in this unjust war, to refuse to carry out orders which, as we have already seen, lead to many war crimes. Refusing to follow orders in such a situation is a moral obligation. The time will come to settle these crimes, including before the international courts. However, even if someone manages to avoid this human justice, there is a tribunal that cannot be avoided. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body” (2 Cor. 5:10).
I believe that many of the Russians sent to war are noble men. “We don't know who to shoot at; they all look like us...” said one of your soldiers. So, I ask you to appeal to them to go home as soon as possible without staining their hands with innocent blood.
As disciples of Christ, we know that spiritual weapons are the main tool of warfare available to the Church. “This kind of evil spirit is cast out only by prayer and fasting,” we read in St. Matthew (Mt 17:21; Mk 9:29). In Poland, responding to Pope Francis' appeal, today we have declared a day of prayer and fasting for the establishment of a just peace in Ukraine. I ask you, Brother, to call on all Orthodox brothers and sisters in Russia to engage in similar spiritual work. I believe that the Lord God will not remain indifferent to our prayers and sacrifices. I believe that fasting and prayer change a person's heart.
In Christ the Lord,
+Stanisław Gądecki Archbishop Metropolitan of Poznan President of the Polish Bishops' Conference
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His Holiness Kirill Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
