This weekend, our Orthodox sisters and brothers will be celebrating Easter. APF Councillor Canon Paul Oestreicher has sent us a powerfully worded appeal for a truce between the Orthodox nations of Russia and Ukraine, urging them to mark this sacred time by laying down their arms. The text was created by a group of concerned people in New Zealand and is given below in full.

Call for Peace this Easter

For all Christians and many humanists, Easter time is the celebration of the triumph of life over death and hope over despair.

We call on all Russian and Ukrainian soldiers and all politicians, organisers and workers to lay down their arms and refrain from all war efforts from the Orthodox Good Friday to Easter Monday 2023.

We are a group of concerned people – spiritual leaders, scientists, doctors, artists and workers – in Aotearoa New Zealand who can no longer bear the reports and images of the destruction in Ukraine and the dead civilians and soldiers on both sides. The resulting pain and anguish are felt right around the globe. The suffering of children, mothers and fathers is screaming to the highest heavens.

We hope that the Easter Peace, which the front-line soldiers on both sides should celebrate together, will also mark the beginning of political peace negotiations.

Our suggestion would be to negotiate an immediate 4-point plan:

– Extension of the Easter peace until the Orthodox Christmas

– Withdrawal of all troops to the political borders as they were prior to the current conflict while UN peacekeeping forces move into all disputed areas

– A general reconstruction plan for the devastated areas, starting with the infrastructure of hospitals, kindergartens, schools and homes for the elderly with support from European, American, African and Asian-Pacific advocates for peace

– UN-led political negotiations on a long-term peace plan

People all over the world long for peace, in Ukraine and Russia, but also in other parts of the world such as Yemen and Ethiopia.

The world is on the brink of both nuclear war and a climate crisis of apocalyptic proportions that we can only solve together and in peace.

Let’s make Easter 2023 a turning point for humanity: lay down your arms, work for peace, repair the broken world and free up much-needed resources so we can come together in efforts to overcome climate catastrophe, epidemics and social injustice.

Specifically, we propose that the frontline troops of both sides display white flags painted with a cross or a peace symbol on Orthodox Good Friday morning, 14 April, at 6:00 a.m. (Eastern European Standard Time),and cease all combat operations and troop movements, and come together between the front lines with candles and Easter songs.