Synod of Ukrainian Orthodox Church finds its helpful to develop cooperation with World Council of Churches

At its session on 1 April 2015, the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church discussed the visit of a delegation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to Ukraine. According to the minutes of the meeting, the Synod finds further cooperation with the WCC helpful.

On 17-20 March 2015, the WCC delegation led by its General Secretary, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, visited Ukraine in order to find out more about the situation in the country affected by an armed conflict and seek ways to render humanitarian aid to the people affected by it.

On March 18, members of the delegation met with Metropolitan Mitrofan of Lugansk and Alchevsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who told the high guests about peace-making efforts that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was continuously making in the past year, as well as about interconfessional relations in Ukraine. During the meeting Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, Vice-Moderator of the WCC Central Committee, expressed the official position of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on the so-called “Ukrainian orthodox church of the Kyiv Patriarchate”. He said, “In our Church we do not call the Kyiv Patriarchate, the Kyiv Patriarchate. We call them schismatics, so as to avoid the impression that we recognise them in any way. They may call themselves as they wish, but they are not recognised by any Church.”

As a result of the visit, the members of the delegation adopted the Communiqué, in which they expressed appreciation to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for assistance in organizing the visit and noted its high peace-making potential as a Church representing the majority of the Ukrainians, whose parishioners live “in all parts of the country and on both sides of the line of conflict.” The Communiqué emphasized that the developments in eastern Ukraine had resulted in a difficult humanitarian situation. It reads, in particular: “Collectively, these experiences have underlined the critical situation for the people and communities most directly affected, the urgent need to increase humanitarian assistance to them, and the necessity of resolving this conflict in order to prevent even worse human suffering.”

DECR Communication Service

Photo by Press Service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church