Ukrainian Orthodox leaders seal divorce from Russian church
Source: Deutsche Welle
Date 15.12.2018
Ukrainian Orthodox leaders seal divorce from Russian church
The Ukrainian Orthodox council has elected a leader of the country's newly-established independent Orthodox church. The decision to cut ties with Moscow has caused a split within the Ukrainian church hierarchy.
Ukraine on Saturday formally created a new national Orthodox church, breaking away from Russia's influence, as worsening political and military tensions between the two neighbors spills over to religion.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed the decision following a historic synod at Kyiv's Saint Sophia Cathedral when the country's Orthodox Council voted to establish the independent church.
Poroshenko added that Metropolitan Epifany, of the Kiev Patriarchate church, was chosen as head of the new church: "This day will go down in history as the sacred day ... the day of the final independence from Russia," Poroshenko told a crowd awaiting the council's decision in central Kiev.
Several thousand people had rallied outside the cathedral ahead of the synod in support of the move, which the Ukrainian president pushed for as part of his 2019 re-election campaign.
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Read more:
https://www.dw.com/en/ukrainian-orthodox-leaders-seal-divorce-from-russian-church/a-46755901
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Source:
BBC
Ukraine Orthodox priests establish independent Church
15 December 2018
He said national security depended on "spiritual independence" from Russia.
He was speaking at a special council of orthodox priests in Kiev, where a new leader of the church was selected.
The Russian Orthodox Church cut ties with the spiritual authority of the world's Orthodoxy after it recognised the Ukrainian Church's independence.
Russia also fears that its churches in Ukraine could be seized.
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Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46575548