A World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation led by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit will visit Ukraine from 17 to 20 March to explore how the international ecumenical community may best support churches in Ukraine so that they can contribute to the search for peace in this country.
“We hope that this visit can be seen as an expression of how the whole ecumenical family prays and acts together for justice and peace for the people of Ukraine,” said Tveit. “We go together to see, to listen and to discern what our future steps together can be,” he added
The programme of the delegation visit includes meetings and discussions with the leadership of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) which is the WCC member church in Ukraine, as well as with other churches and religious communities in Ukraine, and encounters with high-ranking Ukrainian political leaders.
In the framework of discussion with the churches in Ukraine, the WCC delegation will meet the representative of the Reformed Church in Transcarpathia (RCT) as well. Rev János Héder, Vice Bishop of the RCT will inform the ecumenical representatives of the situation and challenges which the RCT has to face in midst of Ukrainian war. In January a delegation of the Word Communion of Reformed Churches, led by Jan-Gerd Heetderks, president of WCRC Europe has also visited the Reformed Church. The WCRC delegation, hosted by the Presidium of the RCT spent 2 days in Beregszász (Berehove) and learnt more on its service and diaconial work.