Ukrainian religious media and clergy have been spreading false propaganda for some time.
They claim that the World Council of Churches did not condemn the war in Ukraine in time. They claim that the WCC did not pronounce until two years after the start of the war.
The Ukrainian site Духовний Фронт України (In English: Spiritual Front of Ukraine) published this, citing a post by the Ukrainian cleric and scholar Father Cyril Hovorun.
Father Hovorun writes in Telegram:
“The National Council of Churches in Denmark was the first among other European churches and ecumenical organizations to publicly express the problem of the biased reactions of the World Council of Churches to the events in Ukraine. As I previously wrote, it took the WCC two years to react to the war and two days to react to the law banning the Russian Orthodox Church (in Ukraine). This problem has long been discussed in ecumenical circles and has finally been expressed in an official document.”
Doxologia Infonews, which constantly monitors and publishes press releases from the World Council of Churches and which, since its inception, has always been on the side of Ukraine as a victim of Russian aggression and fought against Russian propaganda, cannot pass by with its eyes closed the lie that the WCC did not condemn the war in time.
Doxologia Infonews without being a lawyer for the WCC confirms that the WCC is the only ecumenical organization that so often condemns the Russian aggression against Ukraine and criticizes the war as senseless and criminal.
On February 22, 2022, the WCC “expressed grave concern for the people of Ukraine amid the latest developments and escalating tensions threatening peace and security”.
“We plead again for consideration of the death and suffering that any armed conflict would inevitably visit on the children, women and men of Ukraine. And once again we pray that eyes of those driving the march to war may yet be opened, and that peace may yet prevail.” the WCC said at the time.
On February 24, the WCC said: “The World Council of Churches denounces any and every use of deadly armed force to resolve disputes that could be resolved by dialogue. We firmly believe that dialogue. … We call for an immediate end to the current armed hostilities, and for the protection of all human lives and communities threatened by this violence. We urge all member churches and all people of good will around the world to join us in prayer for peace for the people of Ukraine and the region.”
February 25: “WCC makes an appeal to President Putin, to stop this fratricidal war, and to restore peace to the people and nation of Ukraine.”
In a letter to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow on March 2, the World Council of Churches asked the patriarch to mediate so that the war between Russia and Ukraine can be stopped. “With filial respect and consideration I write to Your Holiness to intervene and mediate with the authorities to stop this war, the bloodshed and the suffering, and to make efforts to bring peace through dialogue and negotiations.”
Further in time, there are at least 20 posts that condemn and criticize the war. We also recall that a high-level WCC leadership delegation personally visited Ukraine and expressed their support.
We urge the Ukrainian nation to appreciate what the WCC is doing for them, protecting them at the highest level from Russian aggression. The WCC, which is not a church, does much more for Ukraine than many churches put together.
Doxologia Infonews categorically denounces the false accusations against the WCC and considers them an unacceptable attack on ecumenism and on the thousands of brothers and sisters who outside Ukraine are fighting for this victim country.
Doxologia Infonews team