From December 9 to 11, 2024, the European Consultation on Just Peace was held in Warsaw (Poland). This event was attended by a delegation from the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO), as well as representatives from various Ukrainian churches.  The consultation was organized by the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Polish Ecumenical Council. The international event focused on the theme derived from the Bible verse Amos 5:24: “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

In his speech at the conference, Pastor Anatoliy Raychynets, a representative of the UCCRO Chairman and Deputy Secretary General of the Ukrainian Bible Society, shared his insights on how Ukrainian churches understand the concept of just peace.“For more than a thousand days, our people have been courageously defending their homeland, their homes, their right to life,” he said.

Pastor A. Raychynets outlined how the “Russian world” came and the consequences it brought to the territory of Ukraine: 

Anatoliy Raychynets

Deputy Secretary General of the Ukrainian Bible Society

The seizure of church buildings for the needs of the Russian army, a ban on worship, the murder of clergy, and torture. Therefore, as ministers of the Church, we are asking for something that is not typical for pastors - we are requesting assistance for Ukraine in the form of weapons and other essential resources to help the Armed Forces protect the lives of children, women, and all citizens, as the Russian military has come to kill us

“When evil is punished and justice is restored, this defines a just peace” summarized Pastor A. Raychynets, reflecting on what this concept means to him personally.

During the panel discussion titled "The Right to Defense and Self-Defense” Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine addressed the participants of the international event. He emphasized the danger of the Kremlin's instrumentalization of religion and the use of religious Russian institutions, primarily the Russian Orthodox Church, to justify and support aggression against Ukraine.

Epifaniy

Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan

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. Similar to the Cold War era, the Kremlin tyranny seeks to influence the positions and decisions of churches worldwide, as well as those of international and ecumenical organizations, particularly the World Council of Churches

The European Consultation on Just Peace was also attended by President of the Ukrainian Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Stanislav Nosov, Bishop Sandor Zan-Fabian of the Transcarpathian Reformed Church, Bishop Paul Schwarz of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of  All-Ukrainian Union of the Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists Igor Bandura, Chairman of the Commission of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church on Interfaith and Interreligious Relations Fr. Ihor Shaban, and other representatives.

In the spring of this year, the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations met with a delegation from the CEC. During this meeting, the parties discussed the state of religious freedom in Ukraine during the war, humanitarian aid to refugees, and other pressing issues.

Photo by OCU and CEC