Russian Church does not support the WCC statement on the war in Ukraine

The delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church did not vote for the document “War in Ukraine, Peace and Justice in the European Region” adopted by the WCC Assembly. This was stated by Metropolitan Anthony, the press service of the DECR MP reports.

The ROC also noted the balanced position of the World Council of Churches, which, despite pressure, refused to reproach it in the final document of its XI Assembly in Karlsruhe.

“It is with cautious optimism that we evaluate the stand taken by the World Council of Churches, which, in the course of drafting of a document on the Ukrainian conflict, despite unprecedented political pressure <...> refused to bring any accusations against the Russian Orthodox Church and recognized the importance of its large-scale humanitarian mission to give support to refugees and those affected by the conflict,” said the Metropolitan, who headed the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church at this forum.

At the same time, he expressed regret that the final document remained "considerably politicized"; it excluded all the proposals made by the Russian Church, "which prevents us from supporting it."

“At the same time, we believe that the discussion, which took place during the Assembly, can become for the WCC a starting point for an objective and unprejudiced study of the causes of the longstanding conflict in Ukraine just as for subsequent peace-making efforts,” added the chairman of the DECR ROC.

Metropolitan Anthony stressed that when drawing up the document, the proposal of the delegates of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to condemn the violent mass seizures of its churches, undertaken by the OCU, was not taken into consideration. Speaking of this, the hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church expressed his hope that the World Council of Churches would undertake further actions to study this issue.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Metropolitan Anthony (Sevriuk) called the allegations against the Russian Orthodox Church regarding the war in Ukraine unfounded.