Scotland’s Catholic bishop’s have implored the head of the Orthodox Church in Russia, Patriarch Kirill, to ‘intervene with the President of Russia to bring this tragedy to an end.’
The Easter message, signed by Bishop High Gilbert of Aberdeen says ‘the beauty and power of the Orthodox faith is a message of peace’.
“As the situation in Ukraine continues to worsen and innocent people are being killed and injured, the Catholic Bishops of Scotland implore your Holiness to intervene with the President of Russia to being this tragedy to an end,” the letter says.
The letter said that the ‘beauty and power of the Orthodox Faith is a message of peace and inclusion that seeks to break down barriers’.
“May Our Lord Jesus Christ who transformed an instrument of torture and death to become the tree of eternal life, shine on us this Easter, especially the people of Ukraine and Russia.”
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow repeatedly defended the Russian invasion, calling it a Holy War against Western imperialism.
Kirill has been seen as a close ally of Putin, however during the 2014 Russian annexation, Kirill refused to absorb Crimea’s parishes and boycotted a ceremony in the Kremlin celebrating it.
Last week, Vatican sources told Reuters that a meeting between Kirill and Pope Francis in Jerusalem was being considered for June.