From December 9 to 11, 2024, the European Consultation on Just Peace, organized by the Conference of European Churches (CEC) together with the Polish Ecumenical Council, was held in the Polish capital.
Source: AUCCRO
This international event was attended by representatives of Ukrainian churches, including a delegation of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO).
The event was held under the slogan of the Bible verse: “Let justice flow like water, and let righteousness be like a mighty stream” (Amos 5:24). The conference became a platform for discussing the challenges faced by Ukraine and the world due to Russian aggression, as well as an opportunity for churches to cooperate in achieving a just peace.
Testimony of Ukrainian spiritual leaders
Pastor Anatoliy Raychynets, Deputy Secretary General of the Ukrainian Bible Society and representative of the AUCCRO Chairman, emphasized that the Ukrainian people have been courageously defending their right to life and freedom for more than a thousand days.
“For more than a thousand days, our people have been courageously defending their homeland, their homes, their right to life,” he said. “Every day is a miracle!” emphasized Pastor Raychynets.
Pastor Raychynets noted how the “Russian world” came and what it brought to the territory of Ukraine:
“The seizure of church buildings for the needs of the Russian army, a ban on worship, murdered clergy, torture. Therefore, we, as ministers of the Church, ask for something that is not typical for pastors – we ask to help Ukraine with weapons and everything necessary so that the Ukrainian Defense Forces can protect the lives of children, women and all people, because the Russian military came to kill us.”
Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine drew attention to how the Kremlin uses religion to justify war.
“We are all witnesses to the fact that not only the Moscow Patriarchate and its head Kirill Gundyaev publicly proclaim Russian aggression as a “holy war”. All the major religious centers of Russia are involved in justifying the war, through which the Kremlin tyranny, as it was during the Cold War, seeks to influence the position and decisions of the Churches in the world, the decisions of international and ecumenical organizations, in particular, such as the World Council of Churches,” Metropolitan Epifaniy emphasized.
The consultation was also attended by the President of the Ukrainian Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Stanislav Nosov, Bishop Sandor Zan-Fabian of the Transcarpathian Reformed Church, Bishop Pavlo Schwarz of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists Ihor Bandura and representative of the UGCC Fr Ihor Shaban.
The European Consultation was another step in the dialogue between Ukrainian and European churches. It emphasized the importance of fighting for a just peace, which is possible only if the aggressor is punished and justice is restored.
In the spring of this year, the CEC delegation already visited Ukraine to discuss with the AUCCRO the issues of religious freedom during the war and humanitarian support for the victims of the conflict.
