A unique Ukrainian invention of interfaith dialogue is the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO), which appeared in 1996 and has no analogues in the world. “This platform of interfaith dialogue includes all Orthodox churches (there were three, after the emergence of the OCU – two), two wings of the Catholic Church, all Protestant churches, Muslims, Jews, together represent 90% of Ukrainian religious organizations,” Radio Svoboda reports.

None of the religious groups dominates this assembly – the presidency is rotational. That is, the religious leaders of Ukraine do not just tolerate each other, but work together both with each other and with civil society, and also conduct a dialogue with the authorities from a consolidated position, states the American researcher Jose Casanova in the publication.

When Yakov Dov Bleich, Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, headed the council at the beginning of 2019, he invited all his colleagues to Israel.

“Therefore, the heads of all Orthodox churches, Catholic, all Protestant churches, all Muslim and Jewish communities of Ukraine went together to pray to the Holy Land, which is sacred for all of them,” says Professor Casanova. Moreover, if Ukrainians did not have this event among the main news, because they do not see anything surprising in this, then the rest of the world should pay attention – this is a unique phenomenon, he adds.