THE general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Revd Professor Jerry Pillay, has rejected recent calls for the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to be stripped of its membership (News, 5 June).

“WCC governing bodies have previously declined to consider expulsion of the Russian Orthodox Church/Moscow Patriarchate and no such proposal is currently under consideration,” he said.

“There remains, however, a clear need for active and ongoing dialogue within the ecumenical fellowship, in order to strive for mutual understanding with regard to positions attributed to Patriarch Kirill and the ROC that demonstrably diverge from ecumenical consensus positions on ‘Just Peace’.”

Professor Pillay was reacting to a call last week by Viktor Yelensky, a senior Ukrainian government official, for the Russian Church to be thrown out for violating the “fundamental principles of Christianity” because of its active support for Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Speaking to the Church Times this week, Professor Pillay said that several member Churches had also demanded a review of the WCC’s ties with the ROC.

The WCC, however, continued to seek “better mutual understanding within the ecumenical movement” of Russian Church attitudes, he said. These went against “well-established Christian ethical positions regarding war, peace and justice” in ways which would also help to address the “terrible humanitarian impacts” of Moscow’s “illegal and immoral invasion of its sovereign neighbour”.

Calls for the Russian Church’s expulsion were first made after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine (News, 5 April 2022). Professor Pillay said that the WCC maintained a consistent view about Patriarch Kirill’s declared support for a “holy war” and would discuss what to do if the European Union went ahead with planned sanctions against the Patriarch later this month.