Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (SEFC), in a speech at the International Religious Freedom Summit in the United States, called on the religious community to expel the Russian Orthodox Church from the World Council of Churches for complicity in the war. This was reported by the website of the SEFC.

“The ROC has long ceased to be a religious organization in the true sense of the word, an association of people of faith. It is responsible for fomenting war, sanctifying weapons, inspiring the killing of Ukrainian civilians and children, declaring the war against a sovereign country sacred, promises eternal life to those occupiers who die at the front,” he said.

Viktor Yelenskyy emphasized that the Russian Orthodox Church not only supports the war but also persecutes its own priests and believers if they dare to pray for peace rather than for the victory of Russian weapons. “Those of them who dare to substitute a prayer for the victory of Russian weapons with a prayer for peace are severely persecuted and punished,” said the head of the SEFC.

He also recalled that at one time, “the World Council of Churches expelled the Reformed Church of the Netherlands for supporting apartheid. The Russian Orthodox Church has gone much further in its complicity in crimes.” “Russia uses religion as another tool in the war against Ukraine. It destroys Ukrainian churches, expels priests, and imprisons believers who do not agree with the aggression,” Yelensky emphasized. (Quelle: www.risu.ua, 7. Februar 2025)