Comparisons between Islam and Christianity with Ukraine and Russia, and what these shared histories can teach us about unity.

ANCIENT CROSS-CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR MODERN HARMONY - CELEBRATING WHEN A PEOPLE OF DIVERSITY, ACT IN UNITY.

Those ignorant of history, are typically the first to come into conflict. Whereas, those who study history, will learn the truth about

the harmony of humanity.

CONTEXT:

I want to invite you to approach reading these truths with an open mind. Read the whole story and do not comment unless you have read this in full. This not a religious post, but rather, I am sharing an important aspect of history to facilitate understanding about the harmony of humanity, cross-culturally.

I will detail similarities between the brotherhood of Muslim and Christian, as a historical context to brotherhood between Russian and Ukrainian. Then challenge the false teachings of corrupt leaders, who have engineered conflict for profit.

CHRISTIAN & MUSLIM

Muslims and Christians of antiquity protected each other.

Yet this history was not promoted, and few understood that Mulsim and Jew and Christian were brothers. In ancient Abrahamic traditions across both Judaism/Christianity and Islam, both come from the same father, Abraham.

Muhammed decreed that all Muslim would protect Christians.

The early church protected a contingent of Muslim people who were about to be killed, scrutinizing, and identifying them as the same, they were accepted, supported and protected by the ancient Christian church.

This is a fact of history.

Yet despite this common brotherhood and history, the history of brotherhood was expunged from history, to facilitate a conflict over resources.

And because the common person did not know the history, they were easily misled to fear Muslim and coerced to fight their brothers.

Brothers became divided and the rest is history.

Yet every intellectual who has studied, knows that Islam honours Jesus, And Christians protect Muslims.

There is a saying in Psalm 133:1,

"How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe."

This is an ideology of unity that is celebrated and observer by both Christian and Muslim.

Because I am well studied in Talmudic traditions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, I am able to speak knowledgably and get along beautifully with people from all these traditions.

Notably, much of the ethics that we have today, originate from the Talmud.

The famous feminist essayist, ANAIS NIN, quotes the Talmud in her celebrated work THE SEDUCTION OF THE MINOTAUR. Many people falsely accredit this Talmudic wisdom to Anais Nin, but it came from antiquity. You will see many Western scholars, intellectuals and leaders, frequently misquoting the source of this next important wisdom on perception.

"We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are." Rabbi Shemuel ben Nachmani, as quoted in the Talmudic tractate Berakhot (55b.).

RUSSIA AND UKRAINE

Today we face a war by Putin against the Ukrainian people.

It is fair to say this, because Putin has been proven to be killing Ukrainian civilians.

Putin is a man who is clearly corrupt of spirit, and has sought to lie to the Russian people by demonising Ukrainians, in much the same way that Hitler demonised the Jews.

This is a correct comparison.

Because this is happening.

Before we argue and debate Putin's character, the comparison to Hitler, or your opinion on what he is, or he is not doing,

let's look at the history.

KIEVAN RUS

Ukraine was formed before Russia, coming to the aid of early Russians.

Historically. they are close brothers and sisters in Alms and helped each other.

Through a long history of mutual support.

The modern nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine all claim Kievan Rus' as their cultural ancestors, with Belarus and Russia deriving their names from it, The Rurik dynasty would continue to rule parts of Rus' until the 16th century with the establishment of the?Tsardom of Russia.

According to?Rus' Primary Chronicle, the first ruler to start uniting East Slavic lands into what has become known as Kievan Rus' was?Prince Oleg?(879–912).

He extended his control from?Novgorod?south along the?Dnieper?river valley to protect trade from?Khazar?incursions from the east,?and moved his capital to the more strategic?Kiev.?Sviatoslav I?(died 972) achieved the first major expansion of Kievan Rus' territorial control, fighting a war of conquest against the?Khazars.?Vladimir the Great?(980–1015)?introduced Christianity?with his own baptism and, by decree, extended it to all inhabitants of Kiev and beyond. Kievan Rus' reached its greatest extent under?Yaroslav the Wise?(1019–1054); his sons assembled and issued its first written legal code, the?Russkaya Pravda?("Rus' Justice"), shortly after his death.

The state began to decline during the late 11th century and the 12th century, disintegrating into various rival regional powers.?

It was further weakened by economic factors, such as the collapse of Rus' commercial ties to the?Byzantine Empire?due to?the decline of Constantinople?and the accompanying diminution of?trade routes?through its territory.

The Kievan Rus state finally fell to the?Mongol invasion?of the 1240s.

The main point is that Russia didn't create Ukraine, it was the other way around.

Ukraine helped form Russia and supported the Russian people.

REMEMBERING OUR ROOTS

It is important to understand that Russian and Ukrainian people come from the same heritage. While they may have diverged politically and geographically, in daily life, there are substantial numbers of people with both Ukrainian and Russian heritage who do not observe the differences.

Ukrainians and Russians love each other.

Many are cross culturally married.

This is a key point.

The people do not see a difference.

They are one people, who have loved ones across the region.

IT IS ONLY MORALLY BANKRUPT LEADERS WHO SEEK TO GUIDE PEOPLE INTO CONFLICT WITH ONE ANOTHER.

Guiding our children to unity.

While my children were born in New Zealand, their mother is Russian.

Their grandmother was Russian.

Their grandfather was Ukrainian.

My children are connected to BOTH heritages.

A consequence of the united heritage is that I invested early on to immerse my children in both cultures, by participating as a father and a person in both Ukrainian and Russian cultural events.

HOW DO WE COME INTO THE HARMONY OF HUMANITY?

The organisation that I founded has a precept of STAY ENGAGED.

All that Muslim and Christian need to do.

All that Ukrainian and Russian need to do.

All that East and West needs to do.

is STAY ENGAGED

We can do this by learning each other's history.

We can seek to find the common ground,

and honour each other's dignity.