“Conscientious Objector.” That epitaph might aptly be placed on the life’s work of Jim Forest (1941-2022), the founder of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship and a prolific author. For decades he was a friend and co-laborer of some of the leading voices of Christian conscience in the United States, including Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Daniel…
Continue readingOn Non-Violence, Defense, and Victory in the Context of the Russian Aggression against Ukraine
First of all, let me make my standpoint clear: I am from Ukraine, I am Orthodox, I have experience and interest in peacebuilding, and I co-translated the document For the Life of the World: Towards the Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church (FLOW) into Ukrainian and Russian. I find this document a profound and inspiring…
Continue readingWhy Have You Forgotten the Truth of God?
An open letter to the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church
Your Eminences! My letter is addressed to the Orthodox bishops in Russia. I have intentionally not collected signatures or involved any Church structures or public organizations, because I am addressing not the episcopal body, not the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchy, but each of you personally. My letter’s addressee is an Orthodox Christian who…
Continue readingSunday, May 8, 2022: The Global Orthodox Laypeople’s Demonstration Against the War in Ukraine
by Lori Branch In these paschal days when we sing and greet each other with “Christ is risen,” the people of Ukraine suffer hunger, cold, injury, and death. While individually we help through IOCC and other charities, at the level of the global Church we are too often passing them by on the other side…
Continue readingThe Worst of All Curses
by Irina Paert | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски One night terror I experienced during my childhood included bombers flying over the roof of our fifteenth-floor apartment in Moscow. No wonder, as every evening the news reported heavily on the enemy’s military build-up. At the time I could not…
Continue readingJim Forest: My Mentor through Writings and Correspondence
by Volkert Volkersz I first encountered the writings of Jim Forest in the summer of 1969. It was during the height of the Vietnam War. I was 19 years old. The previous December I had dropped out of Fairhaven College in Bellingham, Washington, and sent my draft card back to the Selective Service System with…
Continue readingBlessed Are the Peacemakers: Remembering Jim Forest
by Nicholas Sooy On April 5, 1977, Jim Forest received a phone call that his friend and collaborator Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, had been kidnapped by the Argentinian government. The most likely outcome was death. From his office in the Netherlands, Jim and his staff worked to free Adolfo. They nominated him for the Nobel Peace…
Continue readingReligions and Peace
With the Permission of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, we print an Address of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Al-Azhar and Muslim Council of Elders’ Global Peace Conference. Your Beatitudes, Eminences, Excellencies, Distinguished participants, Dear friends, It is an honor to be invited to address this Conference on Global Peace organized by Al-Azhar and the Muslim…
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