State will try to manage internal conflict in German Evangelical Lutheran Church

On July 24, 2017, a working meeting was held with the leadership and staff of the Department at the request of authorized representatives of the religious communities of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine in the premises of the Department of Religious Affairs and Nationalities.

The need for such a meeting was due to the receipt by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine of various appeals from the representatives of the Church concerning the intra-church conflict between the leadership of the Church and a significant number of religious communities, based on which are the causes of property character.

The meeting was held in order to work out an effective mechanism for solving these problems.

Representatives of religious communities of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kharkiv, Kyiv, Donetsk, Kryvyi Rih, Shostka, Zmiivka, Kremenchuk, the villages of Novogradivka, Petrodolinsk Odesa Oblast and other communities of the Church, representing one side of the conflict, were present at the meeting.

The other side, presented by the leadership and part of the bishopric of the Church, did not appear at the meeting.

Taking into account the public resonance of the conflict situation within the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine, part of the opposition-led church leaders of the Chuch communities, in parallel with the working sessions, organized an informational action near the building of the Department for Religions and Nationalities.

The Department has confirmed its willingness to make every effort to invite representatives of the other side of the conflict to the negotiation process.

According to the Department, "members of religious communities and clerics were recommended to continue to act in the legal field, emphasizing the fact that in a democratic, secular state there is a rule of law and not a religious-canonical right of certain religious organizations. Thus, the norms of the national legislation of Ukraine apply to all legal relations in Ukraine, in particular in the field of relations between religious organizations ". This is informed by the website of the Ministry of Culture.