Churches around the Province have been marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day and the end of the Second World War in Europe. Here, Bishop Andrew Swift, a former Royal Air Force serviceman, offers a perspective from the Scottish Episcopal Church.

“The 8th of May 2025 is the 80th anniversary of when the forces of Nazi German finally surrendered and ended the years of fighting on this continent,” writes the Rt Rev Andrew Swift, Bishop of the Diocese of Brechin. “That war had brought destruction and hardship and the loss of so many lives in European nations, and had of course spread to be worldwide. The war continued in Asia for a few months more, until that part of the conflict ended in August 1945 after the horrors of nuclear warfare on the Japanese mainland.

“Eighty years on, we remember those who served and gave their lives for peace to Europe and the world. We also remember the many, many civilians who died and were displaced in those nearly six years of war. It was a time of such darkness and violence. But the example of those who served is one that we can hold on to with gratitude. In my own service in the Royal Air Force in the 1980s, we always remembered with thanks and humility those who died for our freedom in that war. We also tried to learn lessons from all that happened in those years.

“We now live in a time that, tragically, is not one of peace in Europe or the wider world. The European war in Ukraine is now in its third year, and our news feeds are full of the images of conflict in Gaza, Yemen, India-Pakistan and so many other places. In the Scottish Episcopal Church we pray in our worship for peace in the world. That prayer is so important now, as the world moves into dark and dangerous times where armed conflict seems to be replacing reasonable and mature political leadership.

“More than ever, the example of all those who served and died to bring an end to the Second World War demands that as a church we pray and work even harder for peace today.”

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Image used with grateful thanks from St Mary’s, Broughty Ferry