Russian Orthodox Conference on Social Doctrine in Kyiv

From 23 to 25 July 2001 an international Russian-Ukrainian academic and practical conference was held in Kyiv with the theme “Orthodoxy and Public Life: Reviving Traditions of the Church’s Social Service.” According to the program the purpose of the conference was “to discuss various issues related to the life of Christians and relations between church and state in Ukraine and Russia, as expressed in the document ‘Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church.’”
Moscow Patriarch Alexis II sent his greetings to the participants of the conference. He acknowledged the importance of the themes to be examined: “Today when peoples are gradually being liberated from the bondage of many years of godlessness, they desire to re-create a full-fledged partnership between Church, State and various civic groups.” Among the participants at the conference were Metropolitan Kiril of Smolensk, head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church (DECR-ROC), Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin (secretary of the DECR-ROC) and Kiril Frolov (press-secretary of the Union of Orthodox Communities of Russia).

The newspaper Day drew attention to a few interesting facts: Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan), the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), did not take part and there was not even a greeting from him printed in the program. Only one religious from the UOC-MP gave a presentation at the conference, Mitred Archpriest Mykola Zabuha, rector of the Spiritual Academy-Seminary in Kyiv. Among the secular figures from Ukraine who gave presentations were members of the Union of Orthodox Communities of Ukraine, known for its pro-Russian orientation, and also members of the International Civic Organization “Union of Borders,” a group for retired military personnel. Yurii Karmazyn, national deputy in Ukraine’s parliament, gave a report on “Cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and Institutions which Defend Human Rights.”

Materials for this article were taken from the Ukrainian-language site www.day.kiev.ua and the Russian-language www.strana.ru.