On May 20, 2024, a delegation of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO) met with representatives of various Brazilian Christian churches at the Presbyterian Cathedral in São Paulo during the event “Churches Pray for Justice and Peace”.

At the beginning of the event, the representative of the Chairman of the UCCRO, Pastor Anatoliy Raychynets, noted that “Ukrainian religious leaders came to Brazil, to tell the truth about Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, about the pain and suffering of the Ukrainian people, about numerous crimes of the Russian military against humanity and the persecution, torture, and murder of Ukrainian priests in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.” 

In his testimony, Oleksandr Pavenko, pastor of the Pentecostal Church in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, said: “For me, the war began in 2014, when on Pentecost, Russian soldiers broke into our church and took my two sons and two deacons from the service.” Later, these four ministers were tortured and killed by Russian war criminals, and their bodies were burned to hide the crime.

UCCRO representatives answered questions from the Brazilian clergymen about Russia's war against Ukraine and called on Brazilian churches to continue to pray for a just peace in Ukraine. At the end of the event, Brazilian religious leaders prayed for Ukraine and the UCCRO delegation. 

In memory of the meeting, the UCCRO delegation presented the Brazilian religious leaders who organized the event with a child's drawing and a painting of the Lord Jesus embracing a child.

In the afternoon of the same day, the UCCRO delegation met with the General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Ernie Seibert, and the management team of the Brazilian Bible Society at the Bible Society headquarters in the state of São Paulo. Dr. E. Seibert spoke about the principles of the work of the BBS, including assistance in the production of New Testaments in Ukrainian and their delivery to Ukraine during the war.

During the meeting, UCCRO representatives expressed their gratitude to BBT for its assistance and highlighted the extremely important role of Ukrainian churches in society during the war and in repelling Russian aggression against Ukraine. Oleksandr Zaiets, Board Chairman of the Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF), presented to the leadership of the Brazilian Bible Society a report entitled “The Impact of the Russian Invasion on Faith-based сommunities in Ukraine,” which contains the results of IRF monitoring and surveys on the situation of Ukrainian religious communities in the territories occupied by Russia. The meeting ended with a joint prayer of the BBT and UCCRO representatives.

On the evening of May 20, 2024, within the framework of the visit to Brazil, the delegation of the Council of Churches arrived in Curitiba (Paraná), home to the largest Ukrainian community in Brazil.

Before starting the working part of the UCCRO's visit to Brazil, on May 18-19, 2024, at the invitation of Brazilian churches and with assistance from the Brazilian Bible Society, Ukrainian religious leaders took part in festive services and preached in several large evangelical churches in São Paulo (Adventist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Assemblies of God churches).