Heads of Churches discuss freedom of enterprise during wartime and establish a Council of Christian Churches
On February 20, Senior Bishop Anatoliy Kozachok of the Ukrainian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith chaired a meeting of heads of Christian Churches in Kyiv to discuss the state of freedom of enterprise in Ukraine during martial law, the website of the Institute for Religious Freedom informs.
The meeting of the heads of Christian Churches of Ukraine was attended by the following participants: the father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Bishop Vitaly Skomarovsky of the RCC, Stanislav Nosov, senior bishop of the SDA Church in Ukraine, Bishop Markos Hovhannisyan of the Armenian Catholic Church, Senior Bishop of the Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church Leonid Padun, Bishop Vyacheslav Horpynchuk of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church, Protopriest Vitaly Dunchak of the OCU, Volodymyr Kondor, Executive Secretary of the AUUC ECB, Chairman of the IRF Board Oleksandr Zayets, and others.
Ambassador Roman Vashchuk, Business Ombudsman, took part in the online discussion. The participants of the meeting emphasized the importance of state support for the economy in general and Ukrainian business in particular during the war and given the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. Following the discussion, the participants agreed on certain steps.
The heads of Churches considered a number of issues related to freedom of religion during martial law. Notably, they focused on the facts of obstruction of the activities of religious organizations in the context of mobilization activities in certain regions.
At the meeting of the heads of Christian Churches of Ukraine, it was agreed to establish a Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine, which will replace the Council of Representatives of Christian Churches of Ukraine. The Council of Representatives of Christian Churches of Ukraine, established in 2003, operated at the level of representatives of religious associations. The newly created Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine will function at the level of heads of churches and will have an executive secretariat of authorized representatives of churches.
