Ukrainian church gets independence

Istanbul, January 5 

The spiritual head of Orthodox Christians worldwide formally granted independence to the Ukrainian church on Saturday, marking an historic split from Russia which Ukrainian leaders see as vital to the country’s security. The creation of an Orthodox church in Ukraine independent of Moscow ends more than 300 years of Moscow domination. 

The decree, granting “autocephaly”, was signed by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at a service with the head of the Ukrainian church Metropolitan Epifaniy and President Petro Poroshenko in St George’s Cathedral in Istanbul, Turkey.

“I want to thank Ukrainians around the world who responded to my appeal to pray for the church to be established,” Poroshenko said .

“I want to thank the generations of Ukrainians who dreamed...and finally God sent us the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” he told the congregation in the crowded church.

The patriarchate, the seat of the spiritual leader of some 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, endorsed Ukraine’s request for the new church in October. The decree, or Tomos, will be handed to Epifaniy at a ceremony on Sunday, completing the process of recognition by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Ukraine last month chose 39-year-old Epifaniy to head the new church, in a move which Poroshenko compared to Ukraine’s referendum for independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The move incensed Moscow, and prompted President Vladimir Putin to warn of possible bloodshed in his annual news conference. Relations between Ukraine and Russia collapsed after Moscow’s seizure of Crimea in 2014.

Bitter Russian opposition

Russia bitterly opposes the split, comparing it to the Great Schism of 1054 that divided western and eastern Christianity. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill made a last ditch appeal against the process last month. Religious divisions deepened in Ukraine after 2014 and two Orthodox factions vie for dominance The church known as the Moscow Patriarchate, aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church, sees itself as the only legitimate church in Ukraine. — Reuters

Kiev vs Moscow over religious divide

• The Ukrainian church’s new leader is Metropolitan Yepifaniy. Yepifaniy, whose secular name is Sergiy Dumenko, has been a critic of Moscow’s religious influence in Ukraine and has supported Kiev’s army against pro-Russian rebels
• The Ukrainian Orthodox church has been beholden to Moscow for hundreds of years, and Ukraine’s leaders see church independence as vital to tackling Russian meddling
• Kiev says Moscow-backed churches on its soil are a Kremlin tool to spread propaganda and support fighters in the eastern Donbass region in a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people. The churches strongly deny this
• Ukraine and Russia have been at loggerheads since 2014, when Kiev street protests urging Ukrainian integration with Europe led to the ousting of pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych.
• Russia subsequently annexed Crimea and has supported Russian-speaking separatists in Ukraine’s east, in a conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people