People!

Whoever you are—powerful or homeless, servant of God or sinner, well-known scientist, creative artist, or with little education; and wherever you may live—in the vast forest or the desert, in the jungle or on the tundra, in the hot south or the far north, whether in an enormous city or a forgotten small town—hear this Appeal from ancient Kiev, from the epicenter of the worst nuclear catastrophe ever!

Fellow human beings, whoever you are—happy or unhappy, in love or disillusioned with life, healthy or chained to your bed; however bitter and hard your path may have been—you cannot be indifferent to the destiny of our common home, the earth, and to your own future and that of your children and grandchildren.

Look around you! Earthquakes and floods, tidal waves, tornadoes, and fires; ecological catastrophes born of technology; wars, ethnic and religious conflicts; cruelty and aggression; the spread of diseases and a decline in morals—all of this is our own doing. It is a result of our lack of spiritual values. All of us—the people of the Earth—with our excessive behavior, dark thoughts, false ideas, and depraved actions have brought our planet to its last boundary, beyond which is ruin.

And no one will save us, except the Highest. But even the Highest cannot help us unless we repent, and only if we want to help ourselves and every living being on Earth.

We cannot rely on the politicians; in the political arena all noble endeavors seem destined to result in controversy. But we can all together take that first step on the path to Salvation.

Recall, each of you, if there wasn't just once in your life an occasion when your sincere, heartfelt prayer (or concentrated thought and glorious feeling) helped you in a most wondrous way.

And now imagine what kind of force it will be if all of us—more than 5 billion people on all the continents of the Earth—at one and the same moment lift our eyes to the heavens and send to the Supreme Being, to the Highest Reason of the Universe, a universal, powerful stream of bright energy of Goodness and Love. It will be a first small step toward purifying the space surrounding our planet—its biosphere, as well as the sphere of human action through thought—of the dark destructive energy that is filling the atmosphere of our planet!

Let April 26 from now on become not only a Day of Sorrow and remembrance of the ever growing numbers of victims of Chernobyl, let it also become a Day of Unification of humankind as we face the threat of self-annihilation, and a Day of Hope for our salvation.

So little is asked to make this happen—just do not forget: every year on April 26, from 1700 to 1710 Greenwich Mean Time stop, if you are on the road; wake up, if you are asleep; lay down your weapon, if you are at war; put aside for ten minutes all your worries, problems and sorrows; and find in your heart all the brightest, best feelings of which you are capable.

If you are a believer, turn with your sincere, heartfelt prayer to God (in your own language, according to your own traditions); may this include your worship to the Highest, your repentance for voluntary and involuntary sins, a prayer to purify and save your soul, to purify and save our planet and humankind, and a prayer of gratitude to the Lord for his mercy.

If you do not believe in God, then devote these ten minutes to good and bright thoughts: remember everything that you love, all those whom you love in this world; sincerely repent of bad behavior; wish that you will become better and purer, that you will love and help those close to you (even if only one living soul); with all your heart, wish for Good, Happiness and Peace to all people on Earth and in the whole Universe.

It's not difficult, Citizens of the Earth! Do this at the designated hour— April 26, from 1700 to 1710 Greenwich Mean Time. May the bells of churches and cathedrals ring all over the Earth at this hour, may the organs resound and religious songs and prayers come forth; let pure, bright thoughts and feelings stream to the Heavens!

And may the Supreme Being hear us, Oh People.

Translated by Birgitta Ingemanson and Gitta Bridges, March 1998

Watch the video of "An Appeal to the citizens of the Earth from the victims of the Chernobyl catastrophe" (in Ukrainian), which was first made in 1998 and is still shown on one of the channels of Ukrainian TV by the well known Ukrainian TV journalists Andrey Tzaplienko and Ruslana Pysanka:

Telephones for contacts in Kiev:

(044) 534-43-32—Club of former inhabitants of Pripyat "Fellow townsmen"(zemlyaki_org@mail.ru);

(044) 296-84-69; 296-47-34—Children's fund of international organization "Union Chernobyl";

(044) 425-43-29—National Museum "Chernobyl" (http://pripyat.com/ru/museum/);

+380672920667—The command of the internet's project Pripayt.com: (http://pripyat.com/en/; http://pripyat.com/ru/organizators/);

+38050-469-3307—The social and ecological association of independent artists "Strontium-90" (alex@breus.net; http://www.artshelter.nm.ru/indexr.html)