English theologian about Ukraine: We cannot go wrong if we pray for all

Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou), the spiritual guide of the St. John the Baptist Monastery in Great Britain (Patriarchate of Constantinople), commented on the situation in Ukraine and urged everyone to pray for the salvation of all. The statement of the archimandrite is published on the pemptousia.com website.

“We do not know everything about the conflicts of this world, nor is it necessary to know,” Archimandrite Zacharias wrote. “We just pray with a compassionate heart for the peace of the world and for all.” He believes that it is not worth taking sides, because each side will be responsible for its own crimes. Christians do not want to share in these crimes and be condemned. “If we pray for those who are more wrong than right, well, we perform the commandment to love even enemies,” the Archimandrite emphasized. “And if we pray for those who are more right than wrong, we do well. Therefore, we cannot go wrong if we pray that God save all and grant peace to the world.”

Archimandrite Zacharias is convinced that it is very important for priests and monks to stay away from politics. He recalled, “We offer our sacrifice to God, the Holy Liturgy, for the whole world; and if we are for some and against others, our sacrifice is annulled.” The Archimandrite urged, “When there is a war, the best is not to be judgmental, but to have compassion and pray that the Lord may spare all from suffering. If my Liturgy is to have any value, no one should be missing from my heart when I stand before the altar of God and say to Him, ‘Thine own of Thine own, we offer unto Thee, in all and for all.’”

Archimandrite Zacharias, born in 1946 in Cyprus, studied at the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris, then at the Aristotelian University in Thessaloniki. He has been carrying out his pastoral ministry at the St. John the Baptist Monastery in England for several decades. This is the oldest Orthodox community in the UK. The monastery was founded in 1958 by Elder Sofrony (Sakharov), a disciple of St. Silouan of Athos, and initially was under the jurisdiction of the Sourozh Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1965, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow and All Rus, it came under the omophorion of the Patriarch of Constantinople and today has the status of a patriarchal and stavropegic monastery.

As the UOJ wrote, representatives of the religious communities of Odessa called for the preservation of peace.