For about four years now, before the outbreak of the large-scale war in Ukraine, we have been meeting online every Thursday evening to pray together for peace; we are from different cultures and nations in Eastern and Western Europe. And for the past few months, representatives from the Holy Land have also joined in.
There are only a hundred of us, but it is always a sacred moment that makes us feel like one family praying and asking God for peace together. For us here in Ukraine it is a great gift to pray together because it gives us the strength to go on, making us feel the closeness of so many people. And this gives us hope for the future.
Ljubljana: every day for three years
Marjana and Pavel Snoj had this to say: That 22 February 2022 we were surprised and distressed with Russia’s aggression in Ukraine: – we just didn’t expect it! We in Slovenia know what a war is; we experienced it even after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s and we still bear the wounds. That is why we asked ourselves what we could do against this war, which is always a source of pain, destruction and death. One possibility was immediately obvious to us: prayer! Because we are certain that prayer can obtain everything from God.
We therefore decided to start praying online. We are approx. 60 people from various Movements and Communities, praying together every day for 30′ since February 2022, and we have never stopped doing so, for any reason. At the end of the prayer, we still remain briefly connected for about 5 – 10 minutes to exchange the latest news about the war, the sorrows and joys we experience. Indeed, a true family spirit is created between us, because we live for each other. We believe in peace and that it will soon be possible.
Esslingen: perception, closeness, prayer
Judith Kaiser writes: ‘Be joyful in hope, strong in tribulation, persevering in prayer’ – thus the appeal from Romans 12:12. Perhaps it is this call that brings us together every Tuesday evening as Christians from different Movements and Communities – German-speaking area – for the ecumenical prayer for peace in Ukraine on Zoom.
In our prayer for a just peace, we place our trust in the Lord’s help in all the needs we are aware of. We, about 10-20 people, have been constantly praying since November 2023. Thanks to the participation of Miroslav from Uzhhorod and sometimes Viktor from Lviv, Ukraine is always present in the prayer on Zoom. Their perceptions, stories, greetings and requests help us to pray in a concrete way and to recognise God’s action. Our connection in prayer often makes us feel a deep closeness that refreshes the heart. After a short lead-in, we pray aloud or silently, interceding, blessing, professing the Word of God… each in our own way. In the end, we also turn our prayer specifically to the situation in Israel. Once a month, Hans-Joachim Scholz leads us in prayer of reconciliation. We often experience that we ourselves are blessed and strengthened in faith through this appointment. And God always acts again – let us give thanks to Him for this!’
Bringing the beating heart of current affairs to God
We like to conclude with a thought by Pope Francis (1): ‘Perhaps force of habit or a certain daily ritual has led us to think that prayer does not change individuals or history. Yet to pray is to change reality. Prayer is an active mission, a constant intercession. It is not distant from the world, but changes the world. To pray is to bring the beating heart of current affairs into God’s presence, so that his gaze will shine out upon history. (…) If prayer is living … continually prompts us to allow ourselves to be troubled by the plea of all those who suffer in our world.’
Those interested in participating in one of these moments of prayer can contact us via the website.
The international secretariat of Together for Europe
(1) Homily in the Gesù Church in Rome, 12 March 2022
Deeply rooted in his faith, Bishop Christian Krause was a pioneer and staunch supporter of Christian unity. After years of consultation with the Catholic Church, he was able to sign – for the Lutheran World Federation – the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification on 31 October 1999. On that historic day he met Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement. ‘She and Card Miloslav Vlk suddenly found themselves in front of me and a very special relationship began. I got to know the charism of unity, Jesus in the midst…,’ he recounted in a telephone conversation a few days before his death.
In 2004, together with 55 bishops from various Churches, he took part in the first big event organised by the ecumenical network Together for Europe in Stuttgart. The previous evening – towards the end of the Collaborators’ Congress – he took the stage with the curial Cardinal Walter Kasper and looking at the hall, crowded with 2,000 people, said: ’I was overwhelmed with emotion. My heart was filled with gratitude as I looked into the hall and knew: these people are all my sisters and brothers!’ (cf. Neue Stadt, 6/2004)
From then on, Bishop Christian accompanied the journey of our network with great fidelity. For him it was a ‘new ecumenical restart’ on the path to Christian unity. On the occasion of Cardinal Kasper’s 85th birthday, he said in a speech at the German Embassy to the Holy See in Rome: ‘In the meantime, the path from conflict to communion has continued on many levels. One of these levels is the spiritual Movements and Communities which, with reference to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, are increasingly coming together across national and confessional boundaries to develop new ecumenical community actions, such as, for example, Together for Europe.’ (cf. Rammler, Christian Krause: Weite Wagen, p. 302).
His encouraging speeches, which he repeatedly addressed to the Friends of the network, remain unforgettable. They were innovative, often prophetic. At the recent meeting in Graz-Seggauberg, his audio message was one of the highlights for many of the 200 participants. Among other things, he said: ‘When the meeting takes place in Graz, there will be an even stronger desire for unity among the younger generations than before. This desire is not only expressed within the Church, but in general. We are disintegrating, Europe is disintegrating in a shocking way. But so are the new partnerships and groupings of a political and economic nature and so on, the new wars going on… That is why it is once again extremely important for Christians to realise that unity is their mandate. It is their gift. So: the charisma of unity, Jesus in the midst. This is enough, these are the pillars. Therefore, Christians, forward please. This is Graz, this is my hope!
One young participant commented: ‘I’m taking over this baton!’ And like her, many others took up the legacy of Bishop Christian Krause.
We are aware that in his passing away, we lost a man who experienced in his life the boundless love of God. His message of Christian unity as a response to the needs of our time remains alive among us. It is painful to lose such a beloved and wise friend, but we are grateful for such a blessed life he shared with so many.
Dear brother Bishop Christian, we treasure in our hearts your last appeal: ‘Go forward, you are on the right path!’ We remain united with you in believing that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
Mukacevo: I had never even heard of that town in western Ukraine when I arrived there in September 2024. It borders Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. I arrived there one fine September day, with the intention of supporting the small focolare community in this country tormented by war. Ukrainian friends had told me: ‘When the bombing of Kyiev started in 2022, the whole world was following us. Now the interest has waned and we are beginning to feel abandoned.’ This realisation – not without bitterness – set something in motion within me: Yes, I too want to give a sign of solidarity. As Pope Francis puts it: I want to make myself close to an experience that seems so far away from my life. My choice is facilitated by the fact, that I speak Russian – a language with which one can understand Ukrainians. I have decided, therefore, to make myself available for a certain period of time.
The airspace over Ukraine is closed. It took me two days to travel from Holland, where I live, to Mukacevo. When I arrived there, I had a totally new experience: air-raid warnings followed y bombardments, e.g. on the power station of Mukacevo. With each warning, people – consciously or unconsciously – fall into a ‘state of shock’. A friend came up with a drastic comparison to explain what happens on a psychological and spiritual level: ‘It is like unplugging a switched-on computer several times in a row. When you plug it back in, the system suffers. Our physical and mental health are severely rattled. In Ukraine we have been living like this for three years.’
I was strongly impressed by the women, many of whom nurture a solid faith in God. War meant that many men were at the front, wounded or dead. Others have fled and are hiding somewhere. The focolarine explained to me: “We stayed in Ukraine to share with the people an experience of God among us. He gives us the strength to resist”.
It is said that Ukrainians are very tenacious, and do not give up easily. I felt I can learn a lot from them. Oleksandra runs a family furniture business. Before the war it was a flourishing business; now, however, the men who used to work there have all been called for military service. This means that the income to support her family was no longer available. I was impressed by Oleksandra’s faith in God that helps her to face such a precarious situation with courage and creativity every day.
Irina is a woman like many others in Ukraine: her husband is at the front in the Donbass region. They often communicated by phone and he tells her many horrible things; nevertheless, he also tells her about the solidarity and hope among the soldiers. Although he does not identify with a specific religiosnl he too started to pray. “At the front”, he says, “there are no atheists. There are moments when everyone is praying”.
Tanja fled from an occupied city with her two daughters, aged 10 and 12, She hid them in the car among her suitcases. While queuing at a checkpoint, someone got out of the car and got shot, dying instantly. Tanja was terrified, but at that moment she was only thinking about pressing the accelerator in case she was hit so as to get her daughters to safety.
I only stayed a few months with these people. When I returned home to the Netherlands, I realised that something inside me had changed profoundly. The months spent in Ukraine taught me a ‘life lesson’: an unshakeable faith in God and the dignity of always being able to persevere, without any complaints. Indeed, it was Ukrainian women like Tanja, Irina and Oleksandra, who taught me with their lives that it is worth believing in a God who never abandons his people.
It’s October 16 in the morning and we are in one of the meeting rooms at the European Parliament. “It’s very clear that something is happening when people of peace are talking”, comments Catarina Martins, Portuguese MEP, beginning her concluding presentation of the DialogUE Project, in which Together for Europe is participating. “This is precisely this kind of moment”, Ms Martins continues, “Dialogue is a powerful instrument of peace”
Present are 50 representatives of the Project’s partners: people involved in European institutions, religious leaders, and also from civil society. The purpose of the meeting is to present recommendations to the European Union, which are summarised in the brochure “DialogUE Kit” >>
During the two year project, four dialogue groups have collaborated in three main areas: communication, ecology and social policy.
The groups were the following:
Christians of various Churches, through the Together for Europe network
Catholics and Muslims, through the Focolare Movement’s Centre for Interreligious Dialogue
Catholics and people with no formal faith, through the DIALOP platform for transversal dialogue
Citizens from Western and Eastern Europe, through the Multipolar Dialogue group
The project aimed to transmit the importance of, and the methodologies needed for, fruitful dialogue. It brought together international expertise in these three key areas, helping the participants to understand the main documents of the UE on these topics, and to explore their various dimensions. About 10,000 people from 23 European countries took part.
Its full title: “DialogUE: Diverse Identities Allied, Open to generate a United Europe”. The final discussion showed how necessary it is to be close to the institutions, in order to share ideas and projects which promote more inclusive and sustainable policies.
In the afternoon of the same day, a discussion was held at the KU Leuven (University of Louvain) in Brussels, where the participants analysed some of the good practices that emerged from the project and spoke about how these practices could be spread through the “DialogUE Kit”. The event was streamed lived and is available on Youtube>>
On this occasion, Together for Europe (TfE) has joined forces with an important Orthodox Association – the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (I.A.O.) – as well as with the Focolare Movement and JC2033, a Movement that calls for an ecumenical journey towards 2033, the Jubilee of 2000 years since Jesus’ resurrection.
Gerhard Pross, moderator of TfE, presented the initiative ‘Easter Together 2025’ to the Patriarch. ‘It is our desire that faith be the foundation of Europe,’ he said, ’indeed, we believe that the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is an excellent opportunity to focus on Christian unity, because the Nicene Creed is our common confession of faith. That is why we want to support all that is being done, so that a new fire can be kindled and the risen Christ can be witnessed on a large scale’.
A meeting with Pope Francis is planned in Nicaea in 2025
In his reply, Patriarch Bartholomew announced that an Ecumenical Commission is working on the programme for the commemoration of the shared Easter and the celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council. The commission has already visited Iznick – the Turkish name for Nicaea – and examined the conditions.
The Mayor of Nicaea is very supportive and ready to collaborate with this Commission. An invitation was also extended to Pope Francis. From what he remembers, this will be their 13th meeting. He also stressed that the date of Easter is not a matter of dogma or faith, but of astronomical calculation.
The meaning of ecumenism
The initiator of the ‘Easter Together 2025’ project is the I.A.O.. Ioan Vulpescu, its new President (and former Romanian Minister of Education), recalled the meaning of the word ‘ecumenism’ (oikoumene): that is, the inhabited world, the earth conceived as a home where all peoples, all tribes and all languages live. The mission of the I.A.O. is to make every believer, wherever he or she is, in whatever state and within whatever society, feel safe at home. An ‘oikoumene’ to be built through dialogue!
‘Blessed are the peacemakers’
The Patriarch praised the I.A.O.’s efforts to promote Christian values and strengthen dialogue between peoples. He also emphasised its role in defending human rights and promoting peaceful coexistence, in the spirit of love of Christ who said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God’. He observed with great sadness the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which not only threatens the stability of the region, but is also causing new divisions within the Orthodox Church. He constantly prays for peace and reconciliation.
The Audience with Pope Francis
Less than a week later, on 19th September, the same delegation was received in audience by Pope Francis in Rome. He expressed his joy at the work done and at seeing us together, Christians representing all the families of the Churches. He shared the hope that ‘the common celebration of the Day of the Resurrection may no longer be an exception, but rather become the norm.’ And he encouraged those involved in the search for a shared agreement, ‘avoiding anything that may instead lead to further divisions’.
Speaking on behalf of ‘Easter Together 2025’, Ioan Vulpescu, president of I.A.O., emphasised the positive message that a shared date for Easter could bring to a Europe in crisis. It is wonderful that parliamentarians care about the unity of the Church and its witness in society.
Easter belongs to Christ!
It was touching that Pope Francis took the time to greet us personally, refraining from reading the speech he had prepared (click here to read it>>>>).
Finally, the most important thing for him is not the calendar, but witnessing together the resurrection of Christ, which manifests God’s love for all humanity. ‘Above all’, he continued, ‘Easter does not take place by our own initiative or by one calendar or another. …. Easter belongs to Christ! Moreover, it is good for us to ask for the grace to be ever more his disciples…
Let us therefore seek to reflect, share and plan together, keeping Jesus before us, grateful for his call and eager, in unity, to become his witnesses, so that the world may believe’.
In 2018, you participated in the Friends of Together for Europe meeting in Prague. Shortly afterwards you entered politics. Is there a relationship between these two facts?
Sure! And it is a very important relationship for me. If one wants to live politics with the ideal of service, one needs to get to know other politicians who have the same goal. The possibility of creating a ‘positive network’ with others also during the meeting in Prague helped me a lot at the beginning of my political life. And it still helps me.
What motivated you to get involved in politics?
Seeing and understanding how much effort it takes. Politics is a specific field, which touches the life of each one of us. And it is crucial that only those men and women who want to put themselves at the service of others enter politics. Otherwise, one leaves room for those who seek only power. I try to invite other friends into politics, especially young ones.
How do you deal with disappointments if working ‘together’ is not successful and certain opinions/views seem irreconcilable?
Politics is in need of good ideals! If these are missing, it only becomes a ‘technocracy’, and later an ‘autocracy’ of someone, who instead of ‘together’ puts ‘I by myself’. Not everyone is seeking ‘togetherness’. However, we are called upon to do our best, because we believe that this ‘togetherness’ is exactly what our world needs. We strive to do well our part and leave the rest in the hands of the Lord.
You were a candidate in the European elections. You were only a few votes away from being elected. Had you been elected, what would you have committed yourself to in the first place?
For four years I have been the Vice-President of our regional government. The region is called ‘Southern Bohemia’ I am mainly involved in agriculture and ecology; if I had been elected to the European Parliament, I would have been a member of these committees (AGRI and ENVI). The election campaign was a wonderful time in my life. In our list, the top six were elected: I was in seventh place. But I am sure that the Lord knows why. So, I look forward to seeing where he invites me next time.
The democratic values seem to be overshadowed. How could Together for Europe contribute to politics?
The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is that few engage in politics. I know cities where nobody wants to be mayor. If no democratic politician will do it, an extremist will come along and take this space for himself. This may also happen in our parliaments. The most important thing is to invite new men and women to engage in politics, ready to ‘put their hands in the pie’ and serve others through politics. Helping people understand this responsibility is something that Together for Europe could contribute to my generation.
