WCC News: WCC postpones roundtable on Ukraine

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is postponing a planned initial roundtable dialogue meeting on Ukraine, announced WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay. A small plot of a family farmland in the village of Bil’machivka - a community of just over 500 people north of the town of Ichnya, Chernihiv Oblast in Ukraine. The main building on the property was destroyed as Russian military marched through the village invading Ukraine in the spring of 2022, so the family of four has now had to move - at least until the end of the war. Photo: Albin Hillert/Life on Earth 11 October 2023 “Unfortunately, despite our best efforts over the intervening months, practical and political obstacles to the participation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) as core participants in any such dialogue process render our plans impracticable for the time being,” said Pillay. "We continue to believe that the engagement of both the UOC and the OCU is an essential foundation for the dialogue process we envisage, for promoting social cohesion among the people of Ukraine on their journey as a free and independent nation, and for the broader search for peace in a deeply divided and contentious world.” The WCC leadership subsequently undertook visits to the churches in Ukraine and to the Russian Orthodox Church with a view to securing participation in a dialogue process.  Pillay concluded: “The WCC stands always ready to convene and facilitate any such dialogue, to explore other possible formats, and to work with and through its member churches for peace in Ukraine, for a fuller realization of the things that make for peace, and against the unconscionable violence of war.” WCC Statement on Postponement of Roundtable Dialogue on Ukraine See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland