WHEN TIME COMES

Joint-declaration of solidarity between the National Council of Churches in Denmark (NCCD) and The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO) on the occasion of the visit from UCCRO delegation in Denmark on the 27th of May, 2025.

We, as members of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations and the National Council of Churches of Denmark, meet in Copenhagen under the pretext of war and hardship by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. We share a common hope and prayer for a just peace in Ukraine and for the right of the Ukrainian State, Ukrainian churches, and religious communities to sovereignty, identity, and self-determination. 

We walk together towards peace. But peace is not merely the absence of war, nor is it a passive disposition. We recognize that a just peace entails a cost – and that cost must be borne. Our Ukrainian sisters and brothers are paying a high price, which we, their Danish brothers and sisters acknowledge.  The alternative to this heavy price is a deceptive peace for Ukraine. It is one that sacrifices dignity, self-determination, righteousness, and freedom of belief simply to silence weapons.

We declare that the future of Europe and for Ukraine cannot be decided by anyone else than the Europeans and the Ukrainians. We declare that we will continue to support each other in possible ways, stand up for each other and ensure that our unified voice and that the criminal actions of the aggressor are recognized and assessed properly, as demanded by Higher Justice. 

On behalf of 

The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO), Valerii Antoniuk; Chairman of the UCCRO, Head of the All-Ukrainian Union of the Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists

National Council of Churches in Denmark (NCCD), Peter Birch; Chairman of NCCD, Bishop of Elsinore, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark