The Religious Society of Friends worships for peace in Ukraine and in the world and holds in the light all victims of wars, the insane mass murders, for participation in which people are violently forced against their conscience. We also uphold in the light Andrii Vyshnevetsky and Jürgen Menzel, our Friends facing challenging time.
May the new year be peaceful and cheerful, full of pleasant surprises. But whatever the future brings us, let’s meet it courageously, with truth and love in our hearts.
Yurii Sheliazhenko:
Friends, a co-founder of the Religious Society of Friends, Margaret Fell, wrote in her letter to the King that it is his duty to the Lord to see that Quakers “may live peaceably under his Government”, seeing we cannot “defend” ourselves by violence, “we do not wrong nor injure any man, but desire to live at peace with all men”.
In the New Year we will need to witness the similar truths, and we will need a viable guidance for a better life full of light and hope. Apart of well-known commandment, thou shalt not kill (Exodus 20:13), of which Margaret Fell reminds us, there are also beloved Quaker heritage published in Faith and Practice books of Meetings of Friends around the world. I am happy to announce that I composed a draft collection of Advices and Queries for our Meeting in English and currently translating it in Ukrainian. It contains many old sayings that resonate today. And again, it proves how right was Margaret Fell when she wrote: “The Truth is one and the same always, and though ages and generations pass away, and one generation goes and another comes, yet the word and power and spirit of the Living God endures for ever, and is the same and never changes. And so, Reader, cleave to the blessed Light and Truth of the Living God, placed in your Heart, and believe in it; and you will come to be a Witness of the Living God and the Truth, which will be Peace and Comfort to your Soul.”
In the same spirit, Ukrainian peace activist and diplomat, member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Nadiya Surovtsova wrote in her memoirs how she spent time with friends in 1919: “On a warm morning, on a clear evening, we went to the middle of the lake, threw our oars and listened to the silence all around. There were no waves, the boat stood calmly.”
This cold winter, when Kyiv is in fog and Ukraine suffers from Russian assault, I bear in mind this picture of friends in the boat during a warm summer morning enjoying silence in middle of the lake, and I recall advice of African Friends: “No matter how difficult the circumstances, look for the good and positive in everyday life. Face the reality of sorrow and hardship, but make a conscious choice to live with joy, encouraging those around you.”
Yevhenii Raspopov:
My greetings, dear Friends. May the peace of God accompany everyone always. And the new year is a wonderful opportunity to multiply or rediscover the good and bright.
I really want to wish as much divine light as possible in the New Year. So that this God’s light within us, the inner world, about which Jesus, Skovoroda, Meister Eckhart spoke, was manifested in actions. I think that the spirit will open new ideas, concepts and visions in the New Year. I call on everyone, including myself, to become more active in striving and working for peace and to listen to the voice within, which warns against all darkness and evil, cynicism, incompetency, everything that destroys peace.
Jürgen and Miriam Menzel:
I’m happy to join your meeting in Ukraine. We are from Germany. We have a lot of thoughts with you and with Friends there. We are active here, in Germany, to support Ukrainian refugees who are in Germany. I am also in close contact with deserters who came to Germany, especially those who refuse to fight in the Russian army that wages the war of aggression against Ukraine, but I know one from Ukraine. Also, we know that the Ukrainian government tries to change the law and push European governments to send people back to Ukraine for fighting, and we strongly disagree. Europe should be a safe space for everyone who wants to stay here.
Farooq Javed:
I wish you all a Happy New Year. May God’s peace be upon all Friends and it was a pleasure to worship with you. May God always protect you all and may the happiness of the new year be with you all.
Kristen Richardson:
I am looking forward to meeting you all in person. I should be arriving on Wednesday.