Metropolitan Hilarion (C), First Hierarch, with the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

✠

Your Beatitude, Your Eminences, Your Graces, Reverend Clergy, Monastics, and Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

It is morally and spiritually reprehensible for one Orthodox country to invade another—and yet we have precisely this situation with Russia invading Ukraine. Our Hierarchs must speak more strongly and firmly against this abominable act of aggression. Thus far the messages have been far too feeble.

ROCOR is the one branch of the Russian Orthodox Church whose very existence is born from opposition to what was wrong. Our forebears stood steadfast against oppression and dictatorship. Now, today, a dreadful time has again come to oppose clearly misguided violence and lawless aggression, exactly as those forebears did before. Forces in Russia twist and distort the nation’s spirit so as to threaten our fellow brethren made in God’s image in the land that is the Mother of all Orthodox Rus’. Swiftly growing ranks of Russians in Russia risk arrest to protest.

It therefore falls to us to speak loudly and firmly. ROCOR must not be silent, ambiguous, or engage in misdirection of the faithful with critique of the media coverage rather than bold condemnation. We must be clear, right now, else we surrender all spiritual ground that has ever been gained by our arduous struggle against tyranny and totalitarian government.

Let us follow the example set by our spiritual brother, Metropolitan Onufry, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, who clearly and firmly condemned the Russian aggression.

May Ukraine forgive us.

Signed:

Vera Alexander
Ottawa, Ontario

John Andres
St. John’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Whitby, Ontario

Catherine Antonoff
Parishioner
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Toronto, Ontario

Sophia Apraxine
Parishioner
Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral (ROCOR)
Montreal, Quebec

Heather Bailey
Parish Council Member, Choir Member
St. Basil the Great Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
St. Louis, Missouri

Luba Batushin
Parishioner
Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Toronto, Ontario

Peter Bell
Kingsport, Tennessee

Anastasia Black
St. Mary Orthodox Church (AOCA)
Melrose, Massachusetts

Lydia Bringerud
San Diego, California

Gilbert A. Brooker
Washington, Virginia 

Vincent van Buren
Reader – Conductor – Singer
Russian Orthodox Parish of St. Nicholas (MP)
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Sarah Burns
Parishioner
St. John Of Shanghai Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Belfast, Northern Ireland

Christopher Cairns
Woodstock, Ontario

Sergei Chapnin
Journalist and Publisher
Carnegie Moscow Center
Moscow, Russia

Volha Checha
Parishioner
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Toronto, Ontario

Rev. Fr. James I. Colburn
Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East
Manistee, Michigan

Subdeacon Alexis (Richard Reid) Cooper
Saints Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Cathedral (OCA)
Montreal, Quebec

Eric Cooper
Parishioner
St. Mary of Egypt Church (ROCOR)
Roswell, Georgia

Anna Derugin
Parishioner and Choir Member
Church of All Russian Saint (ROCOR)
Burlingame, California

Masha Fedossov
Montreal, Quebec

Grace Wilgefortis Ferris
Glenville, New York

Elena Gan
Former Parishioner
Newcastle, Australia

Maria Garklavs
United Kingdom
Daughter of the late Archpriest Sergei Garklavs,
Caretaker in the US of the Holy Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God
Returned with love to Russia in the spirit of peace and reconciliation

Simon Gilbert
Parishioner (GOAA)
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Anna Gratynska
Parishioner/Chorister
Church of All Russian Saints (ROCOR)
Burlingame, California

Anthony Green
Schenectady, New York

Lawrence Blair Hansen
Portland, Oregon

Jeffrey Hermsen
Parishioner
Our Lady of Guadalupe Roman Catholic Church
Groves, Texas

Maria Borisovna Hoppe
Sacramento, California

Alex Iwanow
Parishioner
Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Toronto, Ontario

Vera Iwanow
Parishioner
Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Toronto, Ontario

Natasha Jascold
Parishioner/Chorister
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Toronto, Ontario

Broadus Jeffcoat-Sacco
Parishioner (GOAA)
Perth, Western Australia

Serge Kavetsky
Parishioner
St. Vladimir Memorial Church
Jackson Township, New Jersey

Nadia Kizenko
Parishioner
Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God Church (ROCOR)
Albany, New York

Walter Kritzky
Parishioner
Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Toronto, Ontario

Steven Lacey
Moscow Patriarchate
Former Parish councillor, ROCOR Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God, London, United Kingdom
Former Parish councillor MP Cathedral of the Dormition (Sourozh), London, United Kingdom

Sister Vassa (Larin)
St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church
Vienna, Austria

Subdeacon Kurtis Lauser
Holy Ghost Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Coatesville, Pennsylvania

Elizabeth A. Ledkovsky
Church Musician
Synodal Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign, New York City (ROCOR)
Salt Point, New York

Michal Lewon
Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Sean A. Lotz
Shelton, Washington

Conor MacCarthy
Parish Council Member
St. John of Shanghai Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Belfast, Northern Ireland

Eoghan Jude MacCarthy
Parishioner
St. John of Shanghai Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Belfast, Northern Ireland

Rodolphe Faustin Moussinga
Cameroon and Istanbul, Turkey

Natalie Olhovsky
Parishioner
Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (ROCOR)
Toronto, Ontario

Jan Michael Ostrowski
New York, New York

Patrick Palmer
Parishioner
Church of St. Alexander Nevsky (ROCOR)
Norwich, United Kingdom

Seraphim (Franklin) E. Patterson IV
Former ROCOR Parishioner
Mesa, Arizona

Giacomo Sanfilippo, Editor
Orthodoxy in Dialogue
Toronto, Ontario

Vera Stephenson
Former Parishioner
Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (ROCOR – Toronto)
Broomfield, Colorado

Elizabeth Symonenko
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
Troy, Michigan

Ilya Tolchenov
Parishioner/Chorister
Cathedral of the Dormition (MP)
London, United Kingdom

Elizabeth Trojian
Toronto, Ontario

Maria Tsikerdanos
Chanter/Parishioner (GOA)
Gainesville, Florida

Frank Zaveral
Parishioner
Assumption Cathedral (GOA)
Denver, Colorado

This letter was composed by Andrew Fedosov, parishioner and choir member at Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Toronto, Ontario.

Those who wish to add their names as signatories may email us at editors@orthodoxyindialogue.com. Please indicate your full name (including ecclesiastical title, if applicable), church affiliation (if applicable), and place of residence.