War

“The new creation bestowed upon us allows no room for hatred and enmity, only love without limits, compassion and understanding. By this shall all know that we are true disciples of the risen one: if we have love for one another.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“As Christians, we must raise our voices—united… We must also stand firm in our commitment to justice, because without justice, there can be no peace. But as Christians, we also possess an invincible weapon: prayer. And we must never forget that.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“As we have said many times, this war is not ‘holy’—it is diabolical. It is blasphemy to call ‘soldiers of Christ’ and ‘heroes of the faith’ those who are ordered to take human lives in the name of the Giver of Life.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“Every act of war is also a war against creation inasmuch as it is a grievous threat against the natural environment.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“We are all responsible for restoring our communities and safeguarding God’s creation. And we are all responsible – whether directly or indirectly, through participation or indifference – for the violence inflicted on our brothers and sisters, but also for the rape of the natural environment in every part of the world. Indeed, we are also responsible for the effects of aggression and violence on human life and climate change, on poverty and inequality, but also on food shortages and energy renewal. Because all of us are inseparable and inextricably linked and interdependent. This is a lesson we have learned painfully in the last three years with the new coronavirus and in the last year with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“No problem is solved by war. War does not solve problems, I always say that; war adds new problems.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“A tragic humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Ukraine. A war, which, like any war, is an abominable and reprehensible situation. It is the domination of irrationality over reason, hatred over love, darkness over light, death over life.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“Silence and indifference are not an option. There is no peace without constant vigilance. Therefore, we are all ‘sentenced’ to peace, which means, destined to the permanent struggle for its establishment and defense.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“The duty of us all is to pray for and actively contribute to a peaceful resolution of conflict situations and to the unconditional respect and protection of human rights and dignity. Human conflict may very well be inevitable in this fallen and broken world; but war and violence are certainly to be opposed with every fiber of our being.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“War and violence are never means used by God in order to achieve a [just] result.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew