“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Mt. 5:9, ESV)“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” (Mt. 5:13-14, ESV)
On November 26, 2021, Ukraina Hotel in Moscow hosted the annual Russian National Prayer Breakfast. Its overarching topic was “Spiritual Peacemaking in Solving Modern Conflicts.” The broad dialog organized by the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation for Assisting the Development of Spiritual Culture gathered more than 200 Russian government officials, businesspeople, NGO workers, and representatives of various religious groups. Dozens of representatives of the European Parliament, the parliaments of EU member countries, Ukraine, the USA, and other countries attended the NPB in person or sent their greetings.
On behalf and in conclusion of the Russian National Prayer Breakfast, Foundation Chairman Andrei Gaidamaka together with Deputy Oleg Voloshin of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Carlton Deal, coordinator of the European Prayer Breakfast, and Todd Hendricks, co-organizer of the National Prayer Breakfast in the USA, proposed to establish a joint group of believing politicians, societal and religious leaders, businesspeople from Russia, Europe, Ukraine, and the USA in order to study the Word of the Lord in the spirit and on the principles of Jesus to establish and enhance a relationship of trust and friendship among them and to work together toward lowering the tensions between countries, finding ways to solve conflicts in Europe, and peacemaking. The participants expressed a firm hope that what is impossible even with political leaders is possible with the Lord, and turning to Him in prayer and turning to Scripture for His wisdom are powerful tools of solving conflicts.
The Church of Ingria was represented by Bishop Ivan Laptev and Deacon Yevgeni Raskatov, head of the ELCIR Mission Department, senior minister of St. Anne’s Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg.