Tension remains high between the Eastern European countries of Georgia and Russia, but Baptists in those regions refuse to break ties with each other.
“We condemn the war between our countries as pointless and brutal,” states a declaration signed by Archbishop Malkhaz Songulashvili of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia and President Yuri Sipko of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Russia.
These two men — along with Bishop Merab Gaprindashvili of Georgia, external affairs officer of Russian Baptists Vitaly Vlasenko and former president of the European Baptist Federation Gregory Komendant, met in Kiev, Ukraine, Oct. 30 to clarify the relationship between the two Baptist bodies.
Komendant, recently retired president of the All Ukraine Union of Evangelical Christian and Baptist Churches, moderated the meeting.
“We urge all the peoples of faith communities to facilitate the process of forgiveness and reconciliation between our peoples,” the declaration reads.
“We agree to fully recognize each other’s churches in their integrity and take bold steps to understand each other and respect each other’s experience. … We decided, in our expression of our common allegiance to Christ, to visit each (other) in our countries to promote friendship and understanding between our peoples. We commit ourselves to enter theological dialogue between our churches to promote mutual cooperation in the Mission of God.”
Conflict between the two countries began Aug. 7 when Georgia attempted to retake South Ossetia, a region that had broken away from the country.
Russia fought back and launched a counter-attack. A few days later, Georgian troops were forced out of South Ossetia as well as Abkhazia, a second breakaway region.
The BBC reported Oct. 28 that Russian forces remain in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and Moscow has backed the declarations of independence from these two regions. (TAB)
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