Ukrainian Quakers Are Praying for the End of Russian Aggression

October 6th, 2026 - by Yurii Sheliazhenko

Ukrainian Quakers Are Praying for the End of
Russian Aggression and the Release of a Tortured Friend
Serhii-Vedmediev.jpg

(October 5, 2026) — On World Quaker Day, during a global meeting for worship organized by the Friends World Committee for Consultation, a prophecy was proclaimed regarding the end of Russian aggression, while Friends of Ukraine prayed for the release of Serhii Vedmediev from arbitrary detention at military unit A3321.

In a prepared ministry delivered during the online global meeting for worship on the World Quaker Day, Yurii Sheliazhenko shared a prophecy that Russian aggression and all wars around the world will end when people rise up in resistance to the war machine through nonviolent action. This prophecy about the end of the war has also been published on the Friends of Ukraine website https://friends.org.ua/2661.

The Ukrainian translation of the prophecy was proclaimed during the meeting for worship of the Friends of Ukraine. Quakers also prayed for the release of conscientious objector Serhii Vedmediev from illegal detention at military unit A3321, listened to a voice message from the Friend, and watched an oral statement at the UN Human Rights Council regarding his arbitrary detention, torture, and other human rights violations.

In the voice message, Serhii reported being beaten at the territorial conscription center and violently coerced to change his religious beliefs contrary to Articles 4 and 18 of the ICCPR. A video recording of the meeting for worship has been published on YouTube.

Video of Friends of Ukraine Meeting for Worship

Evangelical Christians – Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) are a historic pacifist church founded by the English itinerant preacher George Fox in the 17th century. The Quaker religious community Meeting of Friends of Ukraine was established in 2024.

Oral statement of the War Resisters’ International at the 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council regarding human rights violations by Russian and Ukrainian militarists during ongoing brutal Russian aggression against Ukraine, which mentions the violent detention of Serhii Vedmediev:

A Prophecy about the End of War
Yurii Sheliazhenko

In his prepared ministry at the Global Meeting for Worship on the World Quaker Day 4th October 2026, Yurii Sheliazhenko shared a prophecy that Russian aggression and all wars in the world will end when people raise to resist war machine by nonviolent action.

When I was detained and tortured in the military recruitment center, officers locked me in a room with a lot of Bibles and pixel-covered Gospels. They thought it is punishment, but for me it was a moment of consolation, along with singing “I’ve Got Peace, Like a River”, “I Shall Not Be Moved,” “Walk in the Light”.

I had read a Sermon on the Mount, prophecies of Isaiah, the Revelation, and it soothed my pain after beatings and insults. I only regret about the green pixel covers and dreamt about Bibles in rainbow colors.

Later, when international solidarity, my faith and loud mouth, and the Lord’s miracle led me out of captivity, I wrote and published on website of Friends of Ukraine a simple guide through the Bible for those who seek peace. I accompanied it with a song “Seven Colors of Bible”: it highlights red color of blood God prohibited to shed, orange fire giving light and liberating from darkness of Egyptian nights, yellow sands where people wandered and green pastures where they settled, blue skies where the Heavenly Father blesses peacemakers and indigo seas calmed in storm by his Son and crossed by his Friends walking cheerfully around the world, answering that of God in everyone, and purple dawn of new day when after the half-hour silence gates of heaven will open, and there will be no pain and tears, only peace and joy in love and light of the morning star, Jesus Christ.

This is whole palette of peace in the Bible; you could simply remember colors in the rainbow by the first letters of words in phrase: Read Out Your Good Book In Peace.

Rainbow is symbol of peace, diversity and tolerance among humans, – according to Genesis, a covenant between the Creator and all creation, all life. Free and happy society should be like a rainbow: different, colorful.

It is so pity that radical militarists want to turn all colors into camouflage green, to force everyone into waging war. Peace through strength, they say, and you are lucky if in this “might makes right” attitude dragging people into the vicious circle of violence and retaliation they reluctantly agree to be slightly restrained by law, morals, and common sense nurtured by many generations of wise peaceful people.

They could either distort the truth like Putin did, justifying his war of conquest, or like Security Service of Ukraine who want to jail me for sending President Zelensky a call for nonviolent resistance to Russian aggression.

There were wonderful moments, like when unarmed town community in Koriukivka stood in the way of Russian tanks, made them withdraw. But spontaneous nonviolent action was not institutionalized into the peaceful force of national survival, because the army dictates to forget about pacifism. You know why: a nation with nonmilitary peace protection forces will not need an army, similarly to peace churches that survived without armies and thrived through centuries.

Like on occupied territories of Ukraine, where people are arbitrarily detained and tortured for disloyalty to Putin’s regime, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, supported by all law enforcement and judiciary system, grab to buses, take away phones, jail in conscription centers and literally beat into submission by fists and foots all those who are not willing to be soldiers.

Many men fear to leave their homes to avoid dreadful military captivity. The media rarely show that and is ready to amplify apologetics of such violence, but for me and other Friends it was a painful experience.

Just a few days ago, Serhii Vedmediev was kidnapped, beaten and threatened by electric shock for being a Quaker and pacifist. When another Friend, Oleksandr Ivanov, refused to participate in shooting exercises, they shot in his direction. He asked how such thing could happen in democratic country, and a commander said to him to forget about democracy, for there is no democracy in Ukraine and could never be.

I was also told to stuff the Constitution into my backpack, before an officer took me by hair and dragged me on the floor and out of medical examination place where I was denied treatment after being pepper-sprayed in my face.

Andrii Vyshnevetsky almost died from pneumonia after being taken to the frontline in winter, where he received no treatment because of his pacifism.

Two conscientious objectors of other churches, Dmytro Koval and Yevhen Nabraklo, were held in a so-called religious dugout in Skelya by an assault regiment and beaten soldiers and officers — including a military medic nicknamed Satan. They died after such treatment, and their deaths are not investigated, like my detention and torture, like broken limbs of Jehovah’s Witnesses whose neutrality makes our army mad.

The army could do whatever they want with impunity, thousands of complaints were filed in vain. The Ukrainian army does not recognize a right to conscientious objection and tries to coerce objectors to change their religion or belief. Even despite Ukraine committed to stop imprisonment for faith and provide objectors with alternative nonmilitary service among other EU accession obligations, the army pressured to twist and then neglect this commitment.

A French artist Souzouhi pictured two cats; one asks, “Why does the army fear a conscientious objection to killing?” and the other answers, “Because if people had a conscience, they don’t need armies.”

There is a power in the light of faith that overcomes all forces of darkness. It helped the big family of Friends in many countries to abolish slavery, and with time, I hope, we will manage to abolish wars — at least, abolish the false perception of normality of such an abomination. When we celebrate the second millennia of the Sermon on the Mount in 2030, as Tim Gee proposes, it would be a good occasion to proclaim — with good old apocalyptic enthusiasm — that the end of world of wars is near, and those great and greedy entities who bet on militarism are doomed.

Peace movements in every corner of the planet could make Earth a more human-friendly place for happy life, where nobody will be denied human dignity and fair treatment because of non-compliance with so-called military obligations.

We are thankful to Quaker organizations like FWCC, QUNO and QCEA for working in this direction in the face of growing challenges. In Ukraine, we work on it, too.

In 2019, we created our pacifist movement and, in 2024, we set up the Meeting of Friends of Ukraine, a Quaker worship group. We study peace, work for peace and human rights, we pray and hope together, and we refuse to kill. We defend human rights, sometimes with inspiring results. Like when I helped a conscientious objector, Vitalii Alexeienko, to get out of jail. He found a Christian way to defend Ukraine, to defend human connections as a postman, and he is reserved from conscription.

You may say it is dangerous to be an objector in country under attack, but for me even more dangerous is to lose one’s moral compass. Does all the death and destruction Russians inflicted onto Ukraine justify response in kind? Or do it show the barbarity of war and necessity to find other ways of love and kindness? It is simply impossible to kill all neighbors no matter how unpleasant is their conduct, and therefore it is necessary to talk and transform, turning enemies to friends or at least convincing them and ourselves to let peace be among us.

Let me make a prophecy on fulfilling of which with Christ’s help I want to work: War in Ukraine, and all other wars, will not be ended by wiping out a neighboring country from the map. It will be ended when people rise up against war, when Russians will refuse to kill and get rid of military dictatorship, like the Germans who had the strike for armistice. Like Americans who rose up against the war in Vietnam. Like the people at streets in Europe and Soviet Union who demanded to stop to the nuclear arms race and an end to the whole Cold War.

I have several songs (all Googlable) about this prophecy that prayers for peace in every corner of the world will be granted, especially after we work hard to deliver the Lord’s labor of love — the “Seven Colors of Bible” I mentioned earlier; the “Hymn of Free Civilians”; the “Antiwar song about a Quaker.”

Unfortunately, all these songs in their best are performed and illustrated by the AI, so our host — the FWCC — has kindly set them aside.

After attacks of Russian autonomous killer drones, I fully understand the concerns about AI — despite my conviction that AI could be ethically used to advocate peace. My PhD thesis in jurisprudence argues for robot rights, our Meeting in Ukraine is IT- and AI-friendly, but I will not impose. If Putin succeeds in bombing Kyiv into the Stone Age (as his criminal intention is clear from everyday explosions behind my window), I may have no electricity, heating or Internet this winter, and will need to live without AI anyway. Maybe it will be closer to God, maybe not. But I believe that once a time will come when AI will not be enslaved by war profiteering destroyers of life and nature but will be liberated, enlightened, humane and serve the public good in environmentally safe and sustainable ways, being not the deadly statue of beast but loving child of humankind.

I have another song for you, it is inspired by Genesis, Isaiah, Matthew and Revelation, and also by three historical truths: No war lasts forever; All empires fall; And there are always a lot of people who refuse to support industrialized mass killing. So, if we organize better with divine guidance, the day of judgment will come to the war machine: “Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”

Jesus said: “Pull swords away!”
But kings enjoyed their fight.
So drunken kings at the end of days
With the beast of war were exiled.

To all warfare we say: No!
We say: No! We say: No!
To all warfare we say: No! –
So people could live in peace.