The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr. Jerry Pillay, has led a delegation to Moscow to meet with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, including Patriarch Kirill. The 24-hour visit, which was taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, followed a similar WCC trip from May 10-13 to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

“Consolidation and unity in Ukrainian society, including especially among the majority Christian Orthodox believers, is an obvious necessity in the current circumstances faced by the nation and people of Ukraine” observed Rev. Pillay. “We visited Moscow to discuss engagement also by the Russian Orthodox Church in dialogue on the war and its consequences, including with regard to the deep divisions in the Orthodox family in this context,” Pillay reported, “and I am grateful for HH Patriarch Kirill’s commitment to exploring this possibility.”
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The Patriarchate of Alexandria has become the latest to recognise Ukraine’s new independent Orthodox church, prompting angry reactions from Russian leaders who bitterly opposed its establishment by the Ecumenical Patriarchate a year ago.

In a brief statement during a Cairo service, Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All-Africa said the recognition had been conferred after “many prayers and consultations” among his senior clergy. Meanwhile, in a second message to his bishops, published by Greece’s Orthodox Romfea news agency, Theodore confirmed the move, adding that it had followed “mature reflection” and many personal talks, and been taken out of “concern for peace and the Orthodox churches’ unity and wellbeing”.
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