Divine Dispatch 📫: Bloody Palm Sunday
Estonia draws line on Moscow’s religious influence ● Ukraine religious life fades under Russian rule ● Halki Seminary to reopen in 2026
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Holy Week began with the horrific news of Russia’s Palm Sunday attack on Sumy, which claimed many lives. Vatican Nuncio to Ukraine Visvaldas Kulbokas told Vatican News that many of the victims were churchgoers of different Christian denominations who were going to church to celebrate the beginning of Holy Week.
The escalating attacks by Russia over the past couple of weeks only show that the US Administration's hope for an “Easter peace deal” seems not to be within reach.
📌 Let’s begin 3,2,1
1. 🇺🇦 On Palm Sunday, a ballistic missile hit Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy (some 30 miles) from the Russian border, killing over 30 people and leaving over 100 injured. This resulted in strong condemnation from Ukraine’s religious leaders as well as the World Council of Churches.
↳ Also on Palm Sunday, an air strike by Israeli forces on the Anglican-run Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza destroyed parts of it, which received condemnation from the Anglican Church, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and others. As a result of the evacuation prior to the attack a child has died.
2. 🇪🇪 Estonia’s Parliament adopted the changes to the Churches and Congregations Act mandating the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church to sever its ties with the Russian Orthodox Church or face court proceedings that might result in banning its activities.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow wrote to the heads of the Orthodox Churches, urging them to put pressure on the Estonian authorities. The Estonian church has also appealed to US Vice President JD Vance for support.
You can read my piece for The Tablet. I’ve also been able to talk with the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church representatives.
Ban on Moscow ties threatens ‘rights of believers’, says Estonian Church (The Tablet).
3. 🏆 The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has been awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize for his environmental work. He is expected to travel to New York in September for the award ceremony.
I did a piece on this as well: Patriarch Bartholomew promotes ‘spiritual’ ecology after Templeton award (The Tablet)
4. 🇷🇺 Russian lawmakers held a roundtable discussion earlier to explore ways of combating Satanism, which they consider a threat to the country’s statehood, reported The Moscow Times. A definition of satanism was agreed, calling it a “misanthropic ideology based on the justification of evil.”
5. 🇺🇦 An investigation by Novaya Gazeta Evropa has revealed a dramatic decline, by more than half, in the number of religious parishes and congregations in Ukraine’s occupied territories. Of the 1967 congregations that existed before the war, only 902 remain. Those not subordinated to Moscow seem to have suffered the most severe losses. Not a single Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish remains, and only one Roman Catholic parish continues to operate, down from fifteen before the war.
Will be sharing in the next week’s Substack a piece on this with commentary from Kyiv, which I wrote for Church Times
6. 🇺🇦 Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs appealed for greater international pressure on the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin for gross violations of religious freedoms. It reported that since the start of the invasion, 67 clergy members have been killed by the Russian troops.
7. 🏫 Greek Tovima reported on advanced stage talks between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Turkish authorities about the reopening of the Theological School of Halki, possibly next year. Sources close to the newspaper said the seminary might be ready to resume operations in September 2026. Meanwhile, there have been calls for Turkey to ban Archbishop Elpidophoros (GOARCH) from entry.
8. 🇻🇦🇷🇺 After a period of inactivity, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, spoke with Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, about Ukraine and the Vatican’s humanitarian role in supporting POW exchanges. However, Ukrainian church leaders warn that ordinary people see 'no signs of peace' despite ceasefire agreements and high-level diplomacy.
Here’s a story I did for The Tablet on this, also mentioning the visit of US Evangelical pastor Mark Burns to Kyiv being described as “Trump’s Top Pastor”
Read it here: Gallagher and Lavrov discuss ‘humanitarian sphere’ of Ukraine conflict
This year, both Orthodox and Catholics celebrate Easter on the same date. The last such occasion was in 2017. There’s been a lot of discussion about churches agreeing on a common date for Easter. Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew want to see an agreement this year because of the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, which also takes place this year.
I wrote a long-ish analysis on the likelihood of this and talked to several theologians for Balkan Insight - which I’ve been told today is going to be published on Monday - I will make sure to include it in the next post.
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Many thanks,
Andreja