Photo: Craig Jackson
Feature Article No: 02/25
11 September 2025
Brussels
As part of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) Pathways to Peace initiative, voices from countries most directly affected by war and repression are being heard in Europe’s wider ecumenical fellowship. One of these voices is Natallia Vasilevich, a Belarussian Orthodox theologian, human rights activist, and an expert at the OSCE ODIHR Panel on Freedom of Religion or Belief. A member of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and valued member of the CEC Pathways to Peace Steering Group, she is among the founders of Christians Against War — the largest Christian anti-war media resource in Eastern Europe, in Russian language.
Christians Against War grew out of Christian Vision, created by Belarusian Christians in 2020 during protests against election fraud and state violence. “Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine on 24 February 2022, we started posting on Christian Vision media,” Vasilevich recalls. “By March, as the war seemed to be lasting, we decided to create a new project. Telegram plays a special role in Eastern Europe as an uncensored platform, which made it possible to create media really fast. Soon after, we also launched a website to keep all news, articles, reflections, and monitoring in an archive.”
Many members of Christian Vision were forced into exile in Ukraine, where they witnessed the devastation of war. This led to two distinct projects: Christian Vision, which continues to monitor violations of religious rights in Belarus, and Christians Against War, focusing on Russian aggression. “The Belarusian artist Andrej Strocaŭ created the logo for Christian Vision, visually incorporating theological reflections,” Vasilevich notes. “He avoided obvious Biblical symbols, like the dove or even the cross, since these are either overused or misused as military emblems. The logo reflects a meaningful witness.”
From testimony to advocacy
The first post of Christians Against War appeared on 20 March 2022, reporting on an interfaith prayer for peace in Kyiv. Since then, the platform has grown to more than 6,700 subscribers on Telegram, alongside a website and social media channels in several languages.
“Today, Christians Against War is not just a media project, but an analytical, human rights, and activist project created by Christians on a Christian foundation,” Vasilevich explains. “One of the first people that believers who suffer for their anti-war or pro-Ukrainian position in Russia write to is the Christians Against War project.”
The initiative tracks how religion is used to justify aggression, documents persecution of Christians, and supports priests and believers forced into exile. More than 120 names of persecuted Christians are now listed in its records. Cooperation extends across Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and other churches, as well as international ecumenical organisations.
The risks are considerable. The project’s website has been blocked in Russia, Belarusian courts labelled its content “extremist,” and in 2025 authorities declared Christian Vision itself an extremist group. Russian politicians have even called for recognising Christians Against War as “undesirable.”
Despite repression, Vasilevich stresses the importance of solidarity. “It destroys the narratives of Russian propaganda about the war,” she says, noting that Ukrainian churches, journalists, and civil society actors rely on the project’s monitoring and analysis.
Her role in CEC’s Pathways to Peace Steering Group builds on this witness. “CEC provides a platform where churches and Christians who oppose war and violence can be heard,” she affirms. “Through Pathways to Peace, we can show that Christians from Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia are not silent — that there are believers who resist, who care for peace, and who work for justice.”
Looking ahead, she says: “I wish the project could end soon — for the war to stop, for people’s suffering to cease, and for societies and countries to heal from destruction. But for now, I do not see such prospects, because Russian aggression does not stop.”
CEC’s Pathways to Peace continues to amplify such testimonies, ensuring that those who risk everything for truth and reconciliation are not forgotten.