Interfaith Gathering for Peace in Ukraine to be Held

The public is invited to attend an interfaith prayer gathering for peace, in solidarity with the Pittsburgh-area Ukrainian community at St. Paul Cathedral on Sunday, March 6, at 2:30 p.m.
The sponsoring organizations include Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches, as well as those with Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and other interfaith roots.

The prayers will be unusual for an Interfaith service, which usually draw on shared traditions.  Acknowledging the crisis in Ukraine, it will follow segments of a traditional Ukrainian service, but punctuated with psalms, prayerful petitions, and other elements of a contemporary interfaith service suitable for participation by westerners or non-Christians.

The traditional Ukrainian elements of the service are borrowed directly from A Prayer Service in Times of War from the Byzantine Book of Needs, a traditional Byzantine prayer service first published in 1945 in Old Church Slavonic. Fr. Ivan Chirovsky at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary proposed the text, now translated into English and edited for western ears.

The sponsors of the event understand the gathering as an opportunity for people to offer their support to southwest Pennsylvania's Ukrainian communities. Many Ukrainians are now experiencing great anger, distress, and grief at Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine.

“Through prayers inspired by traditional Ukrainian liturgies, as well as the words of spiritual leaders from many faith traditions, we will come together to pray for an end to war,” said the Rev. Liddy Barlow, Executive Minister at Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, a local organization devoted to Christian ecumenism.

Sponsors include:
African Methodist Episcopal Church, Third Episcopal District
Alliance for Humanitarian Initiatives, Nonviolence, and Spiritual Advancement (AHINSA)
Bruderhof Church Communities
Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh
CAIR Pittsburgh
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh
Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania
Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod
Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association
Islamic Relief USA
Jewish Community Center – Center for Loving Kindness
Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh
JFCS Pittsburgh
North American Lutheran Church, Mid-Northeast Mission District
Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network
Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation
Pittsburgh Presbytery (Presbyterian Church USA)
Salvation Army, Western Pennsylvania Division
Turkish Cultural Center Pittsburgh
Ukrainian Catholic Church, St. Josaphat Eparchy
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, Western Eparchy


Faith leaders will be available for interviews immediately following the prayer service. Media parking will be available in the Cathedral parking lot on the left of the Cathedral, entrance on Dithridge Street.