For many years, I have prayed for something most people take for granted: the opportunity to see my father again. My father, Stephen James Hubbard, was taken into Russian custody in April 2022 in the Ukrainian city of Izyum. Our family has since endured the sorrow and uncertainty of separation.
Today, we give thanks for his freedom. As my father journeys home, my heart is filled with gratitude for the mercy shown to him. I sincerely thank President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin for their attention to his case and the diplomatic efforts that secured his release.
I write not as a political commentator, but as a son and an Orthodox priest. Through these difficult years, prayer and trust in God’s mercy have sustained our family and today we can attest that there are blessings along the hard road to peace.
I serve in the Orthodox Church of Cyprus under His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamassos and Orinis. Yet my spiritual journey has a Russian connection that predates my priesthood. Many years ago, while visiting my father in Japan, he took me to a Russian Orthodox church. The beauty of the Divine Liturgy, the reverence of the worshippers, and the continuity of the ancient Christian faith awakened something within me and led me to Orthodoxy.
It moves me deeply that the father who introduced me to Russian Orthodoxy has now been released through an act of mercy involving Russia.
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