On 27 October 2024, Meeting of Friends of Ukraine enjoyed a silent worship online, during which ministries were offered by Yurii Sheliazhenko and Farooq Javed. Then we had a meeting for worship with attention to business.
We heard the next ministry by Yurii Sheliazhenko.
Friends, we must hold in the light all the peaceful people in Ukraine suffering from attacks of Russian drones and rockets, the children killed in Dnipro and Kyiv. It is painful to see a burning house even on photo; imagine how horrific it would be if it is your home. 583 children were killed during full-scale invasion. Putin must stop this senseless murder and withdraw troops from Ukraine.
All the mass killings in the Middle East, in Asia and Africa must be stopped. Nothing could justify the war. It is easy for powerful leaders to spread lies that their wars are justified, but all the lies will meet truth and will lose their power sooner or later.
I am inspired by example of United Nations that resists to all wars by peaceful means of diplomacy and humanitarian action, that helped millions of Ukrainians suffering from Russian aggression. You could have your opinion about Secretary-General António Guterres, but it takes courage to travel to the lair of bloody tyrant and say him in the face that his war of aggression violates UN Charter.
United Nations is a leader in advocacy of human rights, and recent report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Nazila Ghanea, on Peace and freedom of religion or belief, reads in harmony with Quaker peace testimony.
Unfortunately, peaceful Christians in Ukraine are suffering both from Russian aggression and from violent attempts to make them soldiers contrary to their faith and conscience.
Let’s pray that Constitutional Court of Ukraine satisfy constitutional complaint of prisoner of conscience Dmytro Zelinsky and declare unconstitutional absence of alternative service during wartime mobilization.
In epistle to all the prisoners and sufferers for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and his worship, George Fox quoted from Gospel of Matthew (10:22; 24:13), that there will be wars and persecutions, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. The epistle offers a good advice which still is a good advice after almost four centuries: and so, dear friends, be of one mind, and heart, and spirit, and God Almighty arm you with patience and humility.
We heard the next ministry by Farooq Javed. Can I offer a ministry at this meeting from Pakistan? God’s peace be upon all of you, friends. I am very happy to see you again in this meeting. It is a pleasure to meet you all. God be with you all. As many friend’s as we are in this meeting we pray to God that God give us peace and God bless us more. It would be good to reach more people and invite them to come to this meeting. God bless you all and I pray to God that we all always stay together for peace like in this moment.
We were pleased to meet Farooq’s big happy family and wished him and his family health and well-being. Our clerk will forward Farooq’s proposal to establish a Quaker meeting in Pakistan to the Friends World Committee for Consultation. We also pray and hope for the good health of Liudmyla, who has caught a cold, and we will uphold the Friend in the light.
During a meeting for worship with attention to business we discerned two agenda items.
1. We discerned the question of creation of the care committee, and we came to the next decision.
We create the care committee as a standing committee for the organization of community life, for conducting, with the clerk, a permanent care of the affairs of the Meeting of Friends of Ukraine and the preparation of business worship.
The clerk could consult the care committee when registering members of the meeting, communicating with the members or non-members of the meeting.
The care committee shall consider questions and requests of Friends on matters of faith and life, for example, when a person needs spiritual or material support, if advice is needed on protecting the right to alternative non-military service and drafts of legal documents, etc.
The care committee might perform its functions both by meetings or exchange of messages.
All Friends willing to take part in the care of religious community affairs are invited to participate in the care committee by applying to the meeting or the clerk.
We appointed to the care committee Artem Denysov, Oleksandr Ivanov, Serhii Yamkovenko, Vadym Korzh, and our clerk Yurii Sheliazhenko.
2. We discerned the question of sending a request to the National Commission for State Language Standards and the Institute of the Ukrainian Language of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine regarding the correct spelling of the name of the Religious Society of Friends in Ukrainian, and we came to the next decision.
We are aware that along with the accepted spelling of the name of our religion (“Quakers”) in Ukrainian (“квакери”), which is used in Wikipedia and the Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language, some Friends use the variants “квейкери” and “куейкери”, which, in their opinion, better correspond to how the original name sounds in English. We accept these variants as interchangeable, however, when forming the Meeting of Friends of Ukraine, we chose an official name that corresponds to the current spelling of the term in Ukrainian language.
Also, we ask our clerk to contact the National Commission on the Standards of the State Language and the Institute of the Ukrainian Language of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and seek suggestions regarding the correct spelling of the name of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Ukrainian according to the current standards of the state language.
At the end of meeting for worship with attention to business of our religious community we wished each other God’s blessings, joyful and peaceful week, clear skies. We will meet for silent worship next Sunday at 14:30 Kyiv time.