The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations will hold high-level meetings in Jerusalem.
The trip takes place at the initiative of the chairman of the AUCCRO, the chief rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, Yaakov Dov Bleich, who proposed to host a meeting of the Council of Churches in the Holy Land, a place of pilgrimage for believers of many denominations, reports the Institute of Religious Freedom.
The program of the visit includes official meetings of members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations with the President of the State of Israel, Speaker of the Knesset (Parliament), as well as with other Israeli politicians and religious leaders.
These meetings are aimed at strengthening friendly Ukrainian-Israeli relations, exchange of experience in the field of state-confessional cooperation, further development of a pilgrimage in the interests of both countries – both to Israel and to Ukraine.
Participants in the Ukrainian delegation will also visit Israel’s Military Rabbinate and will meet with the Chief Rabbi of the IDF to study the experience of military chaplaincy in the Israeli Defense Forces. This is especially important in the context of protecting Ukraine from military threats facing the Ukrainian state and introducing chaplains in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and other military formations of Ukraine.
At a time free of official meetings, heads and representatives of Ukrainian Churches and religious organizations visit pilgrimage places and pray for peace in Ukraine.
The visit of the AUCCRO delegation to Israel began with a meeting with Zeev Elkin, Minister for Jerusalem and National Heritage Affairs, Minister for the Environment.
The first visiting meeting of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations also took place in 2009 in the State of Israel. Then the outcome of the meetings of the AUCCRO delegation at the highest level was the final resolution of establishing a visa-free regime between Ukraine and Israel.
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