Cambridge, September 12, 2025
iocs.cam.ac.uk
Bishops representing over 2.5 million Eastern Christians in the United Kingdom have issued a joint open letter urging the House of Lords to reject the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, scheduled for its Second Reading today.
The signatories include leaders from communities with longstanding differences from one another who have united to affirm their shared conviction that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God and that the dignity of every life is irreplaceable.
Orthodox signatories include: Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain (Ecumenical Patriarchate), Archbishop Silouan (Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland), Bishop Matthew of Sourozh (Russian Orthodox Church), and Archbishop Atanasie (Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
The statement is also signed by Coptic, Armenian, Malankara, Ukrainian Catholic, and Assyrian Catholic hierarchs.
The bishops state that passing the bill would “fundamentally change our relationship as a society toward human life” and shift resources from providing care to “offering ways to end their lives.”
They cite developments in Canada, where the requirement for death to be “reasonably foreseeable” has been dropped and assisted suicide will be allowed for mental illness alone from 2027. They also reference Oregon data showing almost half of those who died by assisted suicide in 2024 reported concerns about being a burden.
The bishops express concern about pressures on vulnerable patients in the NHS, noting that elderly patients already face unexpected “Do Not Resuscitate” orders for non-terminal conditions. They warn that “the right to die quickly becomes the duty to die.”
The letter calls on the House of Lords to “reject this tragic and dangerous Bill.”
Read the full statement below:
Open Letter of the Eastern Christian Bishops on the Assisted Suicide Bill
As bishops of the Eastern Christian communities of the United Kingdom, representing over 2.5 million faithful, we call on all people of good will and, above all, on Parliament, to recognise the decisive moment this country now faces in the return to Parliament on Friday 12th September of the Assisted Suicide Bill, known as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
This is the moment when the United Kingdom decides whether we hold every human life, every human being, to be valuable, or whether we decide that some lives are not worth living.
Passing this Bill would move limited resources away from striving to offer the best possible care for vulnerable people facing long and painful illnesses, and towards offering ways to end their lives. If we take this step, we fundamentally change our relationship as a society toward human life. We must provide care, not killing.
We already know the effect of similar legislation in other countries. In Canada, only nine years since Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) was introduced, the requirement for death to be "reasonably foreseeable" has been dropped and, from 2027, assisted suicide will be allowed on grounds of mental illness alone. In Oregon, USA, almost half of those who ended their life by assisted suicide in 2024 reported concern about being a burden on family, friends, or caregivers.
Here, at a time when, in an overstretched NHS, elderly and vulnerable hospital patients can already find themselves facing unexpected 'Do Not Resuscitate' orders, even when facing non-terminal conditions, we can be certain that the introduction of legal physician-assisted suicide would result in enormous pressure on the vulnerable and the elderly in our society. The right to die quickly becomes the duty to die.
We call on the members of the House of Lords to reject this tragic and dangerous Bill.
Orthodox hierarchs from around the world have responded to similar initiatives in their own countries in the past few years. OrthoChristian has reported on statement by hierarchs from Ukraine, Cyprus, France, and Finland.
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