Cardinal Koch meets representatives of the Council of Churches and Religious Organisations of Ukraine

On Wednesday, 25 January, Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, received representatives of the Council of Churches and Religious Organisations of Ukraine. In his greeting, he thanked those present for the work they do for their country and stressed the importance of prayer for unity. “Jesus does not command unity to the disciples, but encourages them to pray for it. Unity is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and the preparation to receive it is prayer. There is no true ecumenical commitment without conversion. It is important to engage in the promotion of justice, because peace is the fruit of justice.”

During their stay in Rome, the representatives of the Pan-Ukrainian Council of Churches met, in addition to Cardinal Koch, other heads of the Roman Curia and Pope Francis himself. Also on 25 January, the day on which the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity traditionally ends, they attended Vespers presided over by the Holy Father in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls.

The Council, established in 1996, is composed of 15 Churches and Religious Organisations. It is an interdenominational organisation, representing over 95% of all religious organisations in Ukraine. Its purpose is to bring together the various denominations and traditions in their efforts to promote the spiritual rebirth of Ukraine, to coordinate interfaith dialogue, to participate in the drafting of draft laws on Church-State relations, and to foster charitable activities.

The members of the Pan-Ukrainian Council who came to Rome are: Bishop Marcos Hovhannisyan of the Ukrainian Eparchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, President of the Council; Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halyč, Head and Father of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; Metropolitan Epiphaniy, Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine; Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv of the Latins, Interim President of the Ukrainian Bishops' Conference; the Revd Archpriest Mykola Danylevych, Deputy Head of the Department of External Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; the Revd Valerii Antoniuk, Head of the Union of All Believers of the Evangelical Baptist Churches; the Revd Anatoliy Kozachok, First Deputy Dean of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church; the Revd Stanislav Nosov, President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ukraine; Revd Oleksandr Gross, President of the Synod of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine; Revd Anatoliy Raychynets, Pastor, Chairman of the External Relations Department of the Evangelical Ukrainian Church; Mufti Akhmed Tamim, Head of the Ukrainian Muslims, Supreme Mufti of Ukraine; Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, President of the Union of Jewish Religious Organisation of Ukraine; Revd Oleksandr Babiychuk, Secretary General of the Ukrainian Bible Society, Vice-Dean of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church; Dr. Oleksandr Zaiets, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Religious Freedom, current Secretary of the Council.