European church leaders call for prayers and support for Ukraine
News in brief.
Church leaders call for prayers and support for Ukraine. European Church leaders from all denominations have this week called for prayers and support for the people of Ukraine in the face of Russian military attacks. Leader of the Lutherans, Anne Burghardt said “support is vital for people desperately seeking shelter from the gunfire and bombing”. Polish Bishop Jerzy Samiec called on parishes “to welcome people from Ukraine and offer them support during this difficult time.” The Pope paid a visit to the Russian ambassador in the Vatican and appealed "to those with political responsibility to examine their consciences seriously before God, who is the God of peace and not of war”. Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said “all parties involved to pursue this path of dialogue and respect for international law, in order to bring an end to the conflict and allow all Ukrainians to live in harmony.”
Criticism in Spain for law firm investigating church abuse. The Catholic Church in Spain has appointed a law firm to audit its investigation into historic abuse cases in the Church. However, representatives of abuse survivors continue to campaign for a parliamentary-led investigation, and are sceptical of the law firm’s close associations with the Catholic Church. Read more.
Pope’s visit to Florence cancelled due to illness. The Pope’s planned visit to Florence this coming week has been cancelled because of knee pain associated with sciatica. He is also unlikely to participate in the Ash Wednesday services at the Vatican. Read more.
Spotlight on Odessa
St Paul’s Lutheran Cathedral (Novosel's'koho St, 68). By 1827, the German Protestant community in Odessa was large enough to support the construction of a church, which over the following decades was expanded, with a pastor’s house, school, old-age home, and administrative centre. A girls’ school was added in 1888. By the 1890s there were over 10,000 Germans living in Odessa, and the church underwent a major expansion and reconstruction. The early decades of the Soviet period saw the suppression of the church, with several pastors being imprisoned and killed. In 1938 the church was confiscated and turned into a library, and later sports centre. In the 1970s, the church suffered severe fire damage and was left derelict until the collapse of the Soviet Union. The German Lutheran community in Odessa immediately began work on restoring the church, with support from the Germany federal government, the Bavarian government, together with the German Lutheran community in Odessa.
Cathedral of the Transfiguration (Soborna Square, 3). Built in the late eighteenth century, the cathedral was the main Orthodox church in Odessa. Extensive use of white marble makes the interior of the cathedral exceptionally light. It too was demolished during the Soviet era, and rebuilt in the 1990s.
Three things about Saints Perpetua and Felicity
A noblewoman and a slave martyred together for being Christians in Carthage in 203
Perpetua’s journal from her trial and time in prison was finished by another writer to become The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, the most significant book written by a woman in early Christianity.
Because Perpetua was imprisoned with her infant son and Felicity was pregnant at the time of her martyrdom, they are remembered as saints associated with pregnancy and breastfeeding.