Heads of Ukrainian Churches condemn the ideology of the "Russian world"
It is well known that the ideological basis of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, Russian war crimes, and the genocide of the Ukrainian people is the chauvinistic doctrine of the "Russian world" which is implemented, in practice, in the form of a dictatorship. By analogy with fascism, this can be called "russiasm." The participants of the meeting noted that "Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev and the Russian Orthodox Church have been, and remain, one of the main creators and propagandists of the "Russian World" ideology, which assumes the exclusivity of “Russian civilization” and its separation from, and hostile opposition to, others".
According to the heads of Ukrainian Churches, "this ideology today is a challenge to the preaching of the Gospel in the modern world and destroys the credibility of the Christian testimony regardless of denominations." In their declaration, the heads of Churches supported the call of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations to international interfaith organizations to consider bringing to moral and other responsibility the Russian Orthodox Church, which strongly supports the Russian aggression against Ukraine, incites interethnic and interfaith hatred, and through the preaching of the “Russian World” ideology encourages the genocide of the Ukrainian people.
The leaders of the Churches discussed a number of issues of international cooperation in the context of countering Russian aggression against Ukraine and intensifying the dialogue and cooperation of the Churches with civil society institutions of Ukraine.
The meeting of the heads of Christian Churches of Ukraine was held in the updated format chaired by Senior Bishop Anatoliy Kozachok of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church. The meeting was attended by leaders and authorized representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, All-Ukrainian Union of the Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, the Ukrainian Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church, the Ukrainian Evangelical Church, and the Ukrainian Lutheran Church.
