Efforts by the World Council of Churches to gather representatives from Russia and Ukraine at a congress in Karlsruhe were initially unsuccessful. “We have no contact with them,” said Archbishop Yevstraty (Zorya) of Chernihiv and Nizhyn of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. There are also no signs that the Russian side wants a dialogue.

His delegation is ready for talks as long as they don’t just hear Kremlin propaganda. The World Council of Churches (WCC) — a community of about 350 Christian churches representing more than 580 million people worldwide — meets through Thursday. Kicking off on Wednesday, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Ioan Sauca, said it wanted to be a platform for delegates from Russia and Ukraine to talk.