On 1 December 2025, an ecumenical conference titled “Resisting Empire, Promoting Peace: Churches Confront the Ideology of the ‘Russian World’” opened in Helsinki. The event gathered more than 80 participants from across Europe to re-examine the concept of the “Russian world” and to understand how religious rhetoric is used to justify war, imperial expansion and political interference in neighbouring states.

The conference opened with a prayer and welcome addresses from Archbishop Tapio Luoma, Archbishop Leo of Helsinki and All Finland, Speaker of the Finnish Parliament Jussi Kristian Halla-aho, and the Reverend Dagmar Winter.

The key event of the first day was a lecture by Professor Regina Elsner titled “Church and Empire: From Domination to Decolonisation.”

Delegates also gathered at the Uspenski Cathedral, where an evening prayer service was conducted by Father Markku Salminen. A greeting was also delivered by Ioan Vulpescu.

As a reminder, the ecumenical conference “Resisting Empire, Promoting Peace: Churches Confront the Ideology of the ‘Russian World’” will run until 3 December in Finland.