State censorship and control of religious communities increased following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lutheran Archbishop Dietrich Brauer, who has left Russia, said that, at the start of the war, President Putin's administration made “a clear demand” of religious leaders to speak out in favor of the invasion.
Read MoreA tireless desire to share their message with the people of Berlin — and Germany as a whole — has helped the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ mission in Berlin persevere over the years, up to the present day.
Read MoreChurches throughout Romania are helping Ukrainian refugees by coordinating shipments of supplies, helping with resettlement, collecting funds to help in relief efforts, making quilts, offering shelter and food, and praying.
Read More(OPINION) With the barrage of horrors from Ukraine, it wasn’t hard to distinguish between the messages released by the Eastern Orthodox leaders of Russia and Ukraine to mark Holy Pascha, the feast known as Easter in the West.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Something akin to a Catholic “Trial of the Century” has gotten underway in Rome and there’s plenty of palace intrigue to go around. The trial involving corruption, bad real estate deals and financial wrongdoing has placed Pope Francis in the center of a controversy that for the first time doesn’t involve doctrine or theology.
Read MoreAn Anchorage congregation with members from Ukraine, Russia and other Slavic nations is working to feed and support families forced to flee their homes. “We can’t just sit here,” church member Zori Opanasevych says. “We have to do something.”
Read MoreAs Russian forces withdraw from the capital and western Ukraine, Christians in Ukraine report that they’re concerned attacks will intensify in the cities of the east, including Dnipro and Mariupol. In Mariupol, a port city that has been all but obliterated by Russian artillery, 33 Christians were taking refuge in the meeting place of a Church of Christ.
Read MoreThe war instigated by President Vladimir Putin of Russia has caused Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, with over 4 million Ukrainians displaced and another 7 million internally displaced in western Ukraine, according to U.N. agencies. Photos and videos from formerly Russian occupied towns like Bucha showing executed and tortured civilians only add to the horror and fervor for the war to end.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A newly released journal issue of “Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe” explores the Russian state’s dependency on a morally compromised Russian Orthodox Church to legitimize its quasi-religious fascism. Meanwhile, pastors in Bucha, Ukraine, where hundreds of civilian bodies were recently found shot to death, reflect on the theology needed to survive so much pain and suffering.
Read More(ANALYSIS) At around the same time a Russian Orthodox anti-war statement was distributed to collect nearly 300 signatures, several of Ukraine’s evangelical theological educators expressed to Russian evangelical leaders deep disappointment over their failure to speak out against Russia’s unprovoked attack. Some Russian evangelicals have issued their own anti-war statements.
Read MorePope Francis offered up a special prayer for Ukraine and Russia in connection with a Marian apparition that’s over 100 years old. The pope called on all bishops, priests and believers to join him in the consecration of Ukraine and Russia, an act triggered by a 1917 apocalyptic vision of Mary to three children in the Portuguese city of Fatima.
Read MoreFolk and rock anthems in response to the Russian invasion have created an air of nationalism and unity among Ukrainians. Besides the explicit protest in their lyrics, they recall other historical periods of conflict in the country.
Read More(OPINION) Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has defended Russia’s actions and blamed the conflict on the West.
Read MoreOn March 11, President Ilham Aliyev signed further religion law amendments handing responsibility for naming prayer leaders in all mosques from the Caucasian Muslim Board to the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations.
Read MoreLithuania’s Hill of Crosses, where many visitors have left crosses to honor soldiers who died in uprisings against czarist Russia, has become a site to pray for Ukraine. The history of the Hill of Crosses is unclear. Folklore says the first cross was placed on the hill, formerly the home of a wooden castle, to remind others to pray for mercy and health of people. Soon, crosses began appearing to honor soldiers who died fighting against Russia, which disapproved and repeatedly demolished them.
Read MoreAs Russia continues its assault on Ukraine, many American Christians are trying to help in any way they can, whether through prayer, donations or housing refugees. There is a tremendous amount of care and concern for Ukrainians — and a desire to do something.
Read MoreOn March 10, a court fined the Rev. Ioann Burdin of the Moscow Patriarchate's Kostroma Diocese one month's average local wages for online remarks and a Sunday sermon in church condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and stressing the importance of the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”
Read MorePope Francis — in a private video call on March 16 with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church — said religious leaders “must not use the language of politics, but the language of Jesus.” Francis’ remarks to Patriarch Kirill, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, were the latest in a series of moves to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Read More(OPINION) Orthodox leaders with ties to the European Union and highly European Western Ukraine have issued fierce statements after the Russian invasion. Many Orthodox churches with roots in Russian Orthodoxy have also condemned the invasion of Ukraine and urged a ceasefire.
Read MoreAlabama minister Mark Posey was preaching the gospel in Ukraine when Russia began its latest incursion into the former Soviet nation. “If we wait for ideal circumstances, then we’ll never go anywhere or do anything,” he said in an interview, now back home in North Alabama.
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