Russian Convent In US Got 'Angry' Letters Over Ukraine But Monks Praying For All - Dean

The brotherhood of the major Russian English-speaking monastery in the United States, the Holy Cross, received angry letters about the situation in Ukraine at the beginning of Russia's special military operation there, but the monks were able to explain to the people that the church does not take political sides and prays for everyone, the monastery dean, Gabriel (Hooten), told Sputnik

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2022) The brotherhood of the major Russian English-speaking monastery in the United States, the Holy Cross, received angry letters about the situation in Ukraine at the beginning of Russia's special military operation there, but the monks were able to explain to the people that the church does not take political sides and prays for everyone, the monastery dean, Gabriel (Hooten), told Sputnik.

"In February and March, we got various letters and questions from people. Some people were very angry, others expressed confusion about what was going on," Gabriel said about the monastery in Wayne, West Virginia.

On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics appealed for help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. In response, the countries of the collective West imposed comprehensive sanctions against Russia and have supplied weapons to Ukraine in the amount of tens of billions of Dollars.

Gabriel said the monks at the Holy Cross monastery, most of whom have no connections to Russia and came to Russian Orthodoxy from other Christian denominations, were trying to explain to people that the main role of the church is to pray for peace and for the restoration of brotherly love and relations among all people.

"We believe that these problems really can best be solved through prayer and our own repentance, and nothing will change our central mission that we have as monastics and as Orthodox Christians -to pray for the world, for the increase of love, for the repentance of our sins," he said.

Gabriel said most people, particularly those, with whom the monks interact frequently, have understood the church's position.

The monks were particularly trying to explain that being a part of a Russian heritage does not mean political engagement in the particular situation, he said.

"Our job is not to take sides, but simply to pray for everyone in this trouble and most people understand that," Gabriel added.

In addition, Gabriel said he noticed that Orthodox piety and faith in the United States has become more natural to the people.

"In the beginning, of course, Orthodox Christianity could have been something of a cultural shock to people coming to it from other denominations and there is a sense of, perhaps, unfamiliarity. But it seems, in recent years it is becoming something natural as people feel being 'at home,'" he said.

Gabriel also noted that Orthodox Christianity is beginning to be absorbed into the spiritual heart of the American people and this is happening not simply in an intellectual sense, but on the level of the "spiritual DNA."

The Holy Cross monastery is an English-speaking male convent in the United States under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. The brotherhood numbers 25 monastics.