Moscow, August 9, 2022
Photo: diaconia.ru
The Russian Orthodox Church’s Synodal Department for Charity and Social Services has raised more than 225 million rubles ($3.7 million) to help refugees and victims since the war in Ukraine began in February.
Most recently, more than 4 million rubles ($66,145) were transferred to the Belgorod Diocese for the purchase of humanitarian aid, school supplies for refugee children, targeted medical and social expenses, for salaries of the employees of the Church headquarters for refugee assistance, and for electric stoves for civilians in the Kharkiv Province, the Synodal Department reports.
The Church also reports that at the Holy Protection Monastery in the Diocese of Alexandria in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, refugees and others in need receive free lunches and necessary humanitarian aid; and priests, volunteers, and sisters of mercy in Russia deliver food, clothing, hygiene products, and other necessities to temporary accommodation centers.
The Church has collected, purchased, and delivered more than 2,260 tons of humanitarian aid to refugees and injured civilians, including more than 1,380 tons to the Donetsk, Lugansk, Gorlovka, Severodonetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporozhye, and Berdyansk Dioceses.
More than 695 tons of aid have been directed to help refugees in Moscow. The Department also reports that refugees have been placed in 55 Church institutions in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and Great Britain.
As of late May, the Romanian Orthodox Church had also offered more than $7.5 million in aid to those suffering in Ukraine.
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