Ukraine Russia war: An Easter prayer for peace but also justice – Murdo Fraser MSP

This weekend Christians across the world will join together to celebrate the most important festival in our calendar – that of Easter, commemorating the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

There are two dates for Easter, with Orthodox Christians celebrating later, as they continue to follow the Julian calendar. The Orthodox Christian Easter will fall one week later, on Sunday, April 24.

It does mean that Christians here are celebrating Easter at a different time to our Orthodox counterparts in Ukraine. It’s a celebration that matters there: the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv is held to be the foundation of Christianity across the modern states of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

According to ancient tradition, it was Jesus’ disciple – and Scotland’s patron saint – Andrew who first took the faith to the area. It was not until the 10th century, however, that the people of the Rus with their capital in Kyiv came to be Christianised, with the celebrated mass baptism of local residents.

This led, in time, to the spread of Christianity throughout Russian lands, giving Kyiv the same place in the Christian tradition of that part of the world that we would hold for Iona or the Isle of Whithorn.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin claims to be a man of faith, with a strong devotion to the Russian Orthodox church. Commentators have suggested that part of his motivation for the invasion of Ukraine is an ambition to reunite the ancient territory of the Rus, and the city of Kyiv that is the cradle of Russian Christianity, with the lands that he now rules. Given the atrocities we have seen reported in Ukraine from his troops, it would be particularly ironic if this war was being conducted in the name of Christianity.

Easter is a time in the Christian calendar where many will offer prayers for divine intervention, and this year there will be one plea above all from Christians around the world, and that is for peace in Ukraine. The sentiment is beautifully put in the words of an old Scots paraphrase, based upon the book of the prophet Isaiah:

A woman leaves the Mykhailo Golden Domes Cathedral in Kyiv after a service for Ukrainians who have died as a result of the Russian invasion (Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

No strife shall rage, nor hostile feuds

Disturb those peaceful years:

to ploughshares men shall beat their swords,

to pruning hooks their spears.

No longer hosts, encountering hosts,

shall crowds of slain deplore;

they hang the trumpet in the hall,

And study war no more.

Christians believe, at Easter as at all other times of the year, that it is the Prince of Peace, the one who died and sacrificed himself to take away the world’s sins, who can bring an end to conflict, and grant comfort to those who are the victims of war.

But it is not just peace that we should pray for this Easter, but also justice for those who have lost their lives, or who have seen loved ones taken away from them, because of the actions of evil men.

In an era of moral relativism, it is unfashionable to talk about absolutes of good and evil. But that is precisely what we are witnessing in Ukraine, where we stand unequivocally with those who have seen their democratic and peaceful country invaded by a neighbour, and havoc wreaked on innocent civilians.

We desire peace for Ukraine, but not at any price. Any ending of hostilities must be accompanied by a recognition that Russia has acted unreasonably and illegally in its invasion of a sovereign country, and with recompense to those who have suffered. Surrender by Ukraine might well buy peace in the short term, but would not be underpinned by the justice that any lasting settlement would require in order to have credibility.

Many Christians take comfort and inspiration from the Psalms of David, the Israelite King who knew more than his fair share of battle and conflict, while always remaining resolute in his faith. In Psalm 139, he wrote this:

If only you, God, would slay the wicked!

Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

They speak of you with evil intent;

Your adversaries misuse your name.

Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,

And abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

I have nothing but hatred for them;

I count them my enemies.

Jesus taught us to love our enemies, but there is nothing Christian in the belief that evil should not be resisted. As the Psalmist makes clear, God hates injustice and weeps at the cruelty that human beings do to each other.

It is easy to look at the events in Ukraine and despair that such things could happen in our supposedly civilised continent in the 21st century. It was despair that Jesus’ followers felt, some 2,000 years ago, when they gathered below the cross on which he was crucified, and met then at his tomb. The one who had promised that he was the Messiah had just suffered the most agonising and humiliating death, and had left them without hope.

But the Easter story doesn’t end on Good Friday. It is fulfilled on Easter Sunday, when those same despairing followers rejoiced at the miracle they saw before them – the risen Christ resurrected, his sacrifice for the sins of the world now complete, and with his Kingdom at hand. Those same broken men and women would be transformed into the foundation of the most powerful belief system that the world has ever known.

However bleak our world might be, there is always hope for those who believe the message of the resurrection. Whether this weekend in our western tradition, or the following one in that of the Orthodox churches, may I wish a happy, and peaceful, Easter to all.

Murdo Fraser is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife

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