About 90 religious leaders from different European countries officially condemned the ideology of the “Russian world” for the first time at the international level, declaring it heretical and a fundamental distortion of Christian teaching. The statement was adopted following the conference “Resisting Empire, Promoting Peace: Churches Confront the Ideology of the ‘Russian World’,” held on December 1-3 in Helsinki under the auspices of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) in cooperation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Orthodox Church of Finland.
The document emphasizes that the ideology of the “Russian world” denies the existence of the Ukrainian nation, deprives Ukraine of its right to self-determination, and presents Russia’s war against Ukraine as a “metaphysical confrontation” with the West. Conference participants accused Moscow of abusing church ties to justify aggression and promote “traditional values” as a cover.
“This is the first time that an international church assembly has formally condemned this doctrine, which fuels Russia’s war against Ukraine,” the statement said. It particularly emphasizes the heretical nature of claims about a “holy war” and the automatic absolution of sins for soldiers who die in battle.
The statement was a breakthrough against the backdrop of the cautious position of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which includes the Russian Orthodox Church and avoids direct theological condemnation. Conference participants called on European churches to actively oppose the use of religion to justify war, support Ukrainian resistance to the ideology of the “Russian world,” document the testimonies of victims of aggression, and facilitate the return of illegally deported Ukrainian children.
The conference brought together church leaders, representatives of national councils of churches, ecumenical partners, and theologians. The document emphasizes the need for theological clarity in countering imperial narratives and promoting reconciliation based on the Gospel.