Perspectief 2015-28

Perspectief 6 The Church and Reconciliation: Grassroots Initiatives. The Experience of a Parish 1 Lidiya Lozova Introduction According to the Communice of delegation of the World Council of Churches, which I accompanied in Kyiv as an interpreter on March 17-20, 2015, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, which has 13 thousand parishes both in the East and in the West of Ukraine, “has a key role to play in the search for peace, unity and reconciliation.” In reality, however, this mission seems a very difficult one. In its declarations, the UOC officially supports the Ukrainian territorial integrity. As the bishop of Lugansk and Alchevsk Mitrophan (the head of the UOC Department for External Church Relations and the bishop of the Eastern diocese which has parishes on both sides of the conflict) mentioned during the meeting with WCC delegation, when addressing people in Lugansk he tells them that they are not separatists, while the Ukrainians on the other side are not their enemies; he emphasizes that they are all brothers and sisters in Christ and citizens of one state. UOC does not support the so called “Russian Orthodox Army,” which is active in DNR, and disapproves of the separatist actions on the highest official level. It prays for peace, it actively collects and sends humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian Army and the civilians in the East, it prays for the Ukrainian warriors (alive, wounded and dead), and it tries to provide aid to their families. 1 Lecture held at the conference of the foundation Communicantes and Theological Institute of the Free University of Amsterdam on Churches and Reconciliaition in Ukraine at april 4 2015 in Tilburg. The photos in this article were made by Helene Guiziou and Benedek Poszgay during the reconciliation visit of the brethern of Taizé to Ukraine in april 2015.