MOSCOW, September 30 – Novosti. The Russian United Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals, ROSKhVE) will consider the creation of one or more diocesan administrations in the territories that have expressed a desire to join the Russian Federation in referendums, the ruling bishop of the union, Sergei Ryakhovsky, told Novosti.
“The issue of accepting each appealing church will be submitted to the board of the ROSHVE, which, in accordance with our charter, is authorized to accept religious associations into the ROSHVE. By analogy with the situation on the Crimean peninsula, where a special diocesan department of the ROSHVE has been created, when the legislative framework is determined, we consider the issue of creating one or more new departments. In general, there are quite a lot of evangelical believers in these territories – according to various estimates, from 10 to 25% of the population,” he told Novosti.
The bishop noted that the community of evangelical churches in Russia is diverse, and almost every denomination is represented by several centralized religious organizations, so it will be up to the churches to decide which religious association to join.
“By analogy with 2014, we can say that we will carefully consider all applications for membership that will be submitted to the ROSHVE. Our expert council will get acquainted with the doctrinal practice of churches, and churches will also have to carefully study our canonical documents regulating the activities churches and ministers,” Ryakhovsky concluded.
Referendums on the question of joining Russia were held from 23 to 27 September in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics , as well as in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions . According to the results of processing 100% of the ballots in the DPR , 99.23% of those who voted for joining the Russian Federation, in the LPR – 98.42%, in the Kherson region – 87.05%, in the Zaporozhye region – 93.11%. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia would support the decision, which will be made by the residents of Donbass , Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
The press secretary of the Russian leader , Dmitry Peskov , said earlier that the ceremony of signing agreements on the entry of new territories into Russia will be held on Friday in the Kremlin. The Federation Council will consider all issues related to the entry of new regions into Russia at a meeting on October 4.
