The historic mission unites leaders of many faiths to demonstrate friendship and solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and all who have been impacted by the war.
London- A high-level delegation of religious leaders will pay a historic visit to refugee camps and the city of Chernivtsi, Ukraine on 12th April. Participants include: the Archbishop of Canterbury (Emeritus), Rowan Williams (Anglican, UK), Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg (Jewish, UK), Grand Mufti (Emeritus) Mustafa Ceric (Muslim, Bosnia), Archbishop Nikitas Lulias (Orthodox Archbishop of the UK), Grand Imam Yahya Pallavacini (Muslim, Italy), Br. Massimo Fusarelli (Catholic Minister General, Franciscan Order of Friars, Italy), Swami Sarvapriyananda (Hindu, India/USA), Abbess Sister Giác Nghiêm, (Buddhist, France), and many others (full list on next page).
The leaders will visit various sites in the Chernivtsi region to show friendship, offer comfort, and share experiences of maintaining spiritual well-being under distressing circumstances.
As part of this visit, a public event will be held in the city’s main theater where the faith leaders will address refugees and other citizens impacted by war. Their words will be accompanied by live musical interludes from faith institutions outside the Ukraine, testimonies from refugees, and interactions with audience members. This will be the first public event permitted at the theater since the war began.
The messages of the event are informed by a Glocalities report, in which nearly 25000 people were interviewed across the EU, Russia and Ukraine on their values in 2020. Their report, published today, shows time and again that in all three spaces, people’s highest aspirational values were identical. Martijn Lampert, the Research Director of Glocalities, said ‘we have revealed by empirical means that caring, friendship and freedom were consistently among the top values of responders.’ The mission has been framed by this research and aims to demonstrate by example that even in times of war and division we have to keep appealing to the highest values of humanity that unite us
The event is the co-initiative of James Sternlicht, founder of the Peace Department and Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Founder and Executive Director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute and supported and inspired by Glocalities.
Said James Sternlicht, “In this moment, in a world gripped by profound darkness, we must unite to heal humanity.”
Said Rabbi Goshen-Gottstein, “To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time ever that an interfaith delegation has undertaken a mission of friendship and solidarity, in entering a country at war. This is all the more remarkable considering the high level of religious representatives.”.
The event can be accessed via live video streaming on a page that will be available on the day of the event, at www.FaithinUkraine.com/Stream
