The first anniversary of Ukraine war will be marked by churches` prayers in Britain

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Ecumenical prayers, vigils, memorial services and candle lit processions will mark the anniversary of the war in Ukraine today. Politicians and diplomats will join a service for peace at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile in London.

Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski will later travel to services in Wales and Scotland.

This afternoon there is an ecumenical memorial service at the statue of St Volodymyr the Great in Holland Park, followed by a candle-lit procession to the Russian embassy in Kensington.

Other prayer vigils are planned in cathedrals and churches throughout Britain and many will be lit in Ukraine’s colours of blue and yellow, remembering the 7,199 civilians who have died, 11,756 injured and millions who have fled abroad or been displaced in their own country.

Ukraine solidarity vigil in Liverpool

Father Taras Khomych, a priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and senior lecturer in early Christian literature and Byzantine theology at Liverpool Hope University, has organised a solidarity vigil to mark the anniversary in Liverpool today.

Giving his outlook for the future, during this week’s Religion Media Centre briefing, he said: “Now many people return to Ukraine, return to Kyiv and even President Biden came to Kyiv. So, I think some sort of normality is returning.

But it’s not yet a permanent state. And obviously, with the war, the situation is so dynamic, and so unpredictable, that we cannot make far-reaching predictions about what will happen in the near future.”