“Let us defend peace in every aspect of our lives,” urges, among others the Archbishop Makarios of Australia in his message on the occasion of today’s International Peace Day, which has been established by the UN.
Recalling the peaceful speech of St. Gregory the Theologian, the Archbishop notes that the practical defense of peace is a sacred duty of Orthodox Christians.
In addition, the Archbishop notes that the unprecedented ordeal of the current pandemic “has highlighted even more emphatically the need for love, solidarity, mutual support and cooperation between people, peoples and their leaders.” On the basis of this finding, he points out that now “we realize more than ever that the prospect of peaceful coexistence of all peoples, cannot and should not be treated as utopia.”