The Right Reverend Kenneth Nowakowski, the Eparchial Bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London, led a special interfaith prayer service in his cathedral on 24 February to mark the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian armed forces.
Religious leaders from different faith communities offered prayers from their own traditions.
Bishop Jim Curry, an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Westminster, attended the service alongside Orthodox Archbishops and Bishops, Rabbis, and representatives from the Church of England and ecumenical bodies.
The Right Reverend Paul Mason, Catholic Bishop of the Forces, and the Right Reverend David Waller, Bishop Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, were also in attendance.
The congregation observed two minutes of silence in remembrance of all those who have lost their lives in defence of Ukraine, before the service continued without the use of lights in order to stand in solidarity with Ukrainians who have had to endure hours-long daily power outages. Russia has destroyed much of the country’s energy infrastructure, leaving millions of Ukrainian citizens without electricity, heating and water during the freezing winter temperatures.
The service included several musical contributions with prayerful reflections accompanied by St Mary’s Ukrainian Children’s Choir, the Cathedral Quartet VIVO, String Quartet MODUS, and the Songs for Ukraine Choir.
The community remains hopeful that this unjust war will soon come to an end and that a peace founded on justice will prevail. Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski OBE said:
“We are extremely grateful for the overwhelming support for Ukrainian citizens who have fled harm’s way and have arrived over the past four years to find welcome and shelter here in the United Kingdom. We also want to express our gratitude to the Government and the people of the UK for standing in true solidarity with the people of Ukraine.”
You can browse a gallery of images taken at the special interfaith prayer service solemnly marking the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
