Friendship and mutual respect
Good morning,
We woke up to snow in St Andrews, and across Europe to the news that the Russian military have invaded Ukraine from a number of places. Many of us can only imagine what it must be like to be in Ukraine at this time, making desperate decisions to stay or to go, what to pack into the car, fearful of what will happen to those who go or stay behind.
St Andrews is a global University. We research and teach Russian language and literature – and many have a deep love for Russian and Ukrainian histories and cultures. We have Ukrainian and Russian students, and no doubt members of staff as well. No matter what the leaders of countries do, the Chaplaincy team, alongside the whole University, support all our people in their individuality. Our chapels are home to Orthodox worship, partly in Russian, and Russians and Ukrainians have taken part in chapel services and discussion groups. This is a community of friendship and mutual respect regardless of the news.
I’ve been once to Ukraine, visiting Chernivtsi and Lviv. Lviv was a beautiful city, a spiritual and cultural place. It is hard to imagine it as a place of war.
This morning I went out in the snow and took this picture of the PH outside St Salvator’s Chapel, the place where Patrick Hamilton was executed for heresy in 1528. These simple cobbles are a witness to the ways that human conflict can issue in violence and death. Nearly 500 years on, despite progress in so many ways, we seem on the brink of another round of pain and sorrow in Europe. Let us pray that the worst of bloodshed will be averted, and that even now, paths of peace will be found.
Yours,
Donald.