AUCCRO delegation starts official visit to Israel

The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations will hold high-profile meetings in Jerusalem.

The trip is undertaken at the initiative of the Chair of the AUCCIRO, Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine Yakov Dov Bleich, who came up with a suggestion to hold a meeting of the AUCCRO in the Holy Land, a place of pilgrimage for believers of many denominations, the Institute of Religious Freedom reports.

The program of the visit includes official meetings of members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations with the President of the State of Israel, Speaker of the Knesset (Parliament), as well as other Israeli politicians and religious leaders.

These meetings aim to strengthen friendly Ukrainian-Israeli relations, exchange of experience in the field of state-religion cooperation, further development of a pilgrimage in the interests of both countries – Israel and Ukraine.

Participants of the Ukrainian delegation will also visit Israel's military rabbinat and will meet with the Chief Rabbi of the IDF to study the experience of military chaplaincy in the Israeli Defense Forces. This is particularly relevant in the context of protecting Ukraine from military threats facing the Ukrainian state and introducing a chaplaincy in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and other military formations of Ukraine.

During their personal time, heads and representatives of Ukrainian churches and religious organizations are to visit pilgrimage sites and pray for peace in Ukraine.

According to the IRS, the first on-site meeting of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations took place in 2009 in the State of Israel. Then, the outcome of the meetings of the AUCCRO delegation at the highest level was the final resolution of the issue of establishing a visa-free regime between Ukraine and Israel.