“This war must end.” WCC General Secretary to the Russian Patriarch

During his recent visit to Russia, Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) told Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church that the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russian must end.

In an interview released on YouTube, the General Secretary elaborated the meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The WCC had visited Ukraine to study the impact of the war on the people there. Rev Pillay said that “We have seen the impact of what is happening to people, the loss of lives and properties, and how this war is senseless in terms of its purpose and the tragic loss of people’s lives—which is really unacceptable. We related to him what we have seen and we said we need to work toward the cessation of this particular war.”

He also expressed concern that the ongoing war is affecting the unity of the churches in the Orthodox family.

The General Secretary also expressed concern that the war has impacted the orthodox believers on both sides of the war should work towards unity. He pointed out the need for the members of the Orthodox family to “talk against the war; they can talk in favour of peace. The Orthodox family and the unity of the Orthodox family are essential in this. Therefore, we focused quite strongly on the fact that we need to bring together the Orthodox family in unity.”

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