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Christian Orthodox spiritual leader says indescribable tragedy in Ukraine

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the non secular head of Japanese Orthodox Christians worldwide, referred to as in a single day for the opening of humanitarian corridors in Ukraine the place he stated “an indescribable human tragedy is unfolding”.

Bartholomew, who has beforehand referred to as for an finish to warfare in Ukraine, stated that he hoped this 12 months’s Easter could be “the impetus to open humanitarian corridors, secure passages to actually secure areas for the 1000’s of individuals surrounded in Mariupol.”

“The identical applies to all different areas of Ukraine, the place an indescribable human tragedy is unfolding… We name as soon as once more for a right away finish to the fratricidal warfare, which, like every warfare, undermines human dignity,” Bartholomew stated after an Easter service in Istanbul, the place he’s based mostly.

The chief of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose backing for Moscow’s “particular navy operation” in Ukraine has dismayed many fellow Christians, stated on Saturday he hoped it could finish rapidly however once more didn’t condemn it.

In 2019, Bartholomew, the non secular head of some 300 million Japanese Orthodox Christians worldwide, granted autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, making it unbiased, in a historic cut up strongly opposed by Russia.

(Reporting by Murad Sezer; Writing by Daren Butler; Enhancing by Raissa Kasolowsky)



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