Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Anglican Church of Canada, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Episcopal Church issued a call to peace and prayer for Ukraine.
View the letter online: https://www.elcic.ca/Documents/documents/2014PrayersUkraine.pdf
The text of the letter follows.
A call to peace and prayer for Ukraine
from the heads of The Anglican Church of Canada, The Episcopal Church, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Ash Wednesday 2014
We have watched with dismay, along with the rest of the world, as tensions rise and peace is jeopardized in Ukraine. Recent dangerous developments in the Crimean region of the country put the lives of many innocent people at risk, and threaten peace and security far beyond that region of the world.
As Christians in the western tradition, Anglicans/Episcopalians and Lutherans today enter the season of Lent, a time of repentance. In the Ash Wednesday liturgy we repent of our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty. We cannot remain indifferent in the face of the injustice befalling the people of Ukraine, nor toward the potential suffering and cruelty further military intervention might bring.
In the name of the churches we serve, we join our voices in solidarity with those of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches in pleading for an end to military aggression in that land. We call on all of those involvedwhether governments, movements, or individualsto repent of aggression and violence, and turn instead to the way of peace through dialogue.
We also call upon the faithful people of our churches to pray throughout the season of Lent for wisdom, peace, and justice to prevail in Ukraine.
Bishop Elizabeth Eaton
Presiding Bishop Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate The Episcopal Church
The Most Rev. Fred Hiltz Primate
Anglican Church of Canada
Bishop Susan C. Johnson
National Bishop Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
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