On March 27, an extraordinary meeting of the “World Russian People’s Council” was held in Moscow under the chairmanship of Patriarch of Moscow Kirill (Gundyaev) and with the participation of other clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church, as a result of which a document entitled “Order of the XXV World Russian People’s Council “Present and Future of the Russian World” was approved and published.
In this regard, the Department of External Church Relations of the UOC (MP) stated that their church “disassociates itself, categorically rejects, and condemns the ideas set forth in this document.”
Also, the UOC (MP) emphasized that the statement that the so-called “special military operation” is a “holy war” contradicts the basic principles of Christian morality, especially in the context of armed aggression involving violence. From the point of view of the Gospel, military action cannot be justified as “holy”, nor can it come from people who refer to themselves as clergy.
Also, according to the the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP), the statement claiming that after the completion of the so-called “SMO” the entire territory of Ukraine should enter the zone of Russia’s exclusive influence is a direct call to violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The church believes that instead of ideologically supporting and justifying Russia’s military aggression and intervention in Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church “should have raised its voice against this war of aggression. In our opinion, the calls for the destruction of Ukraine and the justification of military aggression are incompatible with the evangelical teaching.”
“…we note that the mentioned text contains an apology for violence, a justification of violations of spiritual and moral and evangelical principles, which threatens the Ukrainian identity and sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We believe that the above-mentioned ideas from the said document cannot be supported by a religious organization that claims to be called Christian,” the UOC (MP) concluded.
