Source: NPR.org
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church officially gained independence on Saturday, with the signing of a decree that marked its separation from the Russian church that it has been tied to for centuries.
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I signed the decree of independence, or tomos, in Istanbul, formalizing a split that has angered Moscow amid a broader political conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
“The pious Ukrainian people have awaited this blessed day for seven entire centuries,” Bartholomew I said in his address at the Patriarchal Church of St. George.
The Russian Orthodox Church has repeatedly denounced the creation of an independent Ukrainian church and severed ties with Istanbul, the historical seat of the Orthodox faith, after Bartholomew I approved the Ukrainian church’s request for autocephaly, or independence, last October.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attended Saturday’s signing, which many in his country see as one more step toward independence from Moscow, as NPR’s Peter Kenyon reports. Poroshenko, who is up for re-election at the end of March, has made the creation of the independent church a part of his campaign platform. Joining Poroshenko was 39-year-old Metropolitan Epiphanius, who was elected last month as head of the new Ukranian Orthodox Church.
Epiphanius I of the Orthodox Church of #Ukraine arrives in Istanbul to receive the Tomos or letter of autonomy from the Patriarch…
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