The Head of the DESS discussed the prospect of the OCU's accession with the delegation from the World Council of Churches

The head of Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), Viktor Yelensky, held a meeting with a delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) that had arrived in Kyiv to discuss the OCU’s application for membership in the organization. The main purpose of the visit was to familiarize the council’s representatives with the current religious situation in the country.

During the official talks, Viktor Yelensky presented a detailed overview of the state of church relations in Ukraine. The parties addressed issues related to the ecumenical movement and the search for ways to harmonize inter-Orthodox relations, and also discussed the implementation of the law “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations,” which is aimed at restricting the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). Earlier, according to the same source, the head of the department emphasized that the aforementioned law is not intended to infringe upon the conscience of believers.

For its part, the delegation from the World Council of Churches explained to the leadership of the State Committee for Religious Affairs the detailed procedure for admitting new members. WCC representatives focused not only on the formal aspects of the application process but also on the specifics of the internal mechanisms governing the organization’s governing bodies, which is a key factor in considering the OCU’s candidacy.

As a reminder, Viktor Yelensky had previously called for the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to be expelled from the World Council of Churches. In his view, the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate “directly contradict Christian commandments and are aimed at destroying Ukrainian identity.”