ALL-UKRAINIAN COUNCIL OF CHURCHES MEETS WITH WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES DELEGATION
Institute of Religious Liberty, 20 March 2015
A meeting of the delegation of the World Council of Churches with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations was held on 18 March 2015 in the conference hall of the hotel Kreshchatik, the Institute of Religious Liberty reports.
During the meeting, the WCC delegation and the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches talked about possible paths of cooperation between the two interconfessional organizations. Joint efforts of the confessions in facilitating the overcoming of the armed conflict in Ukraine and its consequences were discussed separately.
The World Council of Churches was represented in the event by Archbishop Anders Wejryd (Church of Switzerland, WCC president for Europe), Pastor Karin van der Broek (Reformed Church of Holland), Bishop Jan Janssen (Evangelical Church of Germany), Peter Prugh (director of the Commission of the Churches for International Affairs), and Archpriest Daniel Buda (Romanian Orthodox Church), the UPTs website clarified.
At the same time, another part of the delegation led by WCC General Secretary Pastor Olav Fykse Tveit conducted a meeting in the apostolic nunciature with the papal nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Thomas Gullickson, and the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, Metropolitan Mechislav Mokshitsky.
The representatives of the World Council of Churches expressed readiness to cooperate with any peacemaking initiative of the Ukrainian confessions. The hierarchs of the churches noted that they had come to Ukraine in order to understand how their support could become most effective.
The guests were pleasantly surprised by the
level of positive cooperation of the Ukrainian confessions within
the framework of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and
Religious Organizations. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 March 2015)
WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES SUPPORTS PEACEMAKING POSITION OF UPTs
"The World Council of Churches expresses its complete support for the peacemaking mission of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," declared the general secretary of WCC, Olav Fykse Tveit, at a meeting with representatives of the church that was held as part of the visit of this international organization to Ukraine, Pravoslavie v Ukraine reports.
"This visit has very great significance for us. Ukrainian churches should find a common path in order to become peacemakers in this conflict. Since the people of Ukraine, finally, just like all people, need peace. Therefore the churches should do everything in order to achieve this. The World Council of Churches will do everything depending on us to facilitate the good intentions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," Mr. Olav declared during the meeting.
As regards the conflict situation in the east of Ukraine and the legal sphere of interconfessional coexistence in Ukraine, the president of the World Council of Churches for Europe, Dr. Anders Wejryd, emphasized that the World Council of Churches is striving as much as possible to learn about the situation in Ukraine. Representatives of WCC personally acquainted themselves with the situation in the east of Ukraine, visiting the ATO zone.
"We hope that we will be able to help in the resolution of the problems existing in Ukraine, especially in its east. But in order to objectively evaluate the situation, we must listen to various opinions and thoughts of people. We hope that Ukraine will become for all a model state where Christians, Muslims, and Jews coexist together in peace," he noted. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 March 2015)
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