Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Druze clergymen and women affixed a letter to the outer wall of Jerusalem’s Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral, beseeching Patriarch Kirill to ask Vladimir Putin to “take immediate steps to de-escalate the conflict, and seek a peaceful resolution to it.”
The organizers wanted to give the letter to local Russian Orthodox Church officials directly, but were told by the clergy that they were in prayer and could not receive it.
The posting of the letter in Jerusalem was meant to evoke the legend of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg in 1517, according to one of the organizers.
The letter and Monday’s public event in Jerusalem’s Moscow Square were initiated by Rabbi Yonatan Neril, founder and director of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development.
“I believed it was important that there be a public event of religious leaders in the Holy Land affirming the importance of peace, and publicly calling on Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church to speak with President Putin to seek peace,” Neril told The Times of Israel.
The posting of the letter in Jerusalem was meant to evoke the legend of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg in 1517, according to one of the organizers.
The letter and Monday’s public event in Jerusalem’s Moscow Square were initiated by Rabbi Yonatan Neril, founder and director of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development.
“I believed it was important that there be a public event of religious leaders in the Holy Land affirming the importance of peace, and publicly calling on Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church to speak with President Putin to seek peace,” Neril told The Times of Israel.
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