Yelensky: We expect the OCU to become a member of the World Council of Churches
The head of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience explained the impossibility of excluding the Russian Orthodox Church from the World Council of Churches.
The head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience Viktor Yelensky stated that he expects the OCU to be accepted into the World Council of Churches. "We expect that the OCU, despite obvious resistance from the ROC and its satellites, can become a member of the World Council of Churches," the official said in an interview with "Interfax-Ukraine" agency.
According to Yelensky, excluding the Russian Church from the organization is currently impossible due to the position of communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. "I believe that it is precisely the churches of the Global South that do not support the exclusion of the Russian Orthodox Church," Yelensky stated.
"We would also expect a visit from a WCC delegation to Ukraine," noted the head of SESS. "After all, their charter provides for the possibility of studying the nature of doctrine and activities of a particular Church." Viktor Yelensky also considers it advisable for individual Protestant communities in the country to attempt to become members of this organization.
As SPJ reported, Yelensky called for excluding the ROC from the World Council of Churches, since its activities allegedly contradict the fundamental principles of Christianity.
