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Ukrainian priests rile Moscow with moves to set up independent Orthodox Church
Ukraine riles Moscow as it announces head of new independent Orthodox church
(about 2 hours later)
Ukrainian priests will hold a historic synod on Saturday to work toward founding an independent church, in what the authorities in Kiev hope will be a further step out of Russia’s orbit.
Ukraine announced the leader of a new national church on Saturday, marking an historic split from Russia which its leaders see as vital to the country’s security and independence.
Ties between the former Soviet neighbours have broken down since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 following a pro-western uprising in Kiev, and this year the tensions have spilt into the religious arena.
The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, said Metropolitan Epifaniy, of the Kiev Patriarchate church, had been chosen as head of the new church.
The synod will seek to put into practice a landmark decision by the Istanbul-based ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew I, to recognise Ukraine’s independence from the Russian Orthodox church.
“This day will go into history as a sacred day ... the day of the final independence from Russia,” Poroshenko told thousands of supporters, who shouted “glory, glory, glory”.
The ruling in October sparked fury in Moscow, which has overseen the Ukrainian branch of the church for 332 years, and led the Russian branch to cut all ties with the Istanbul patriarchate.
Relations between Ukraine and Russia collapsed following Moscow’s seizure of Crimea in 2014. Ukraine imposed martial law in November, citing the threat of a full-scale invasion after Russia captured three of its vessels in the Kerch Strait.
The meeting will take place in Kiev’s Saint Sophia’s cathedral and aims to unite various branches of the Orthodox church in Ukraine into a single independent body.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been beholden to Moscow for hundreds of years, and Ukraine’s leaders see its independence as vital to tackling Russian meddling.
Ukraine’s Moscow-loyal church, however, has said it will not send any representatives to the synod, leaving the Kiev patriarchate of Ukrainian Orthodox church, the country’s largest branch by number of believers, and the smaller Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church to attend.
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Kiev says Moscow-backed churches on its soil are a Kremlin tool to spread propaganda and support fighters in the Donbass region in a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people. The churches strongly deny the accusation.
Ukraine’s SBU security service said this week that Russia was planning “provocations” in the country when the clerics meet. Its deputy head, Viktor Kononenko, asked Ukrainians on Thursday to “refrain from holding any [political] gatherings during this period” so that they “could not be used by the aggressor to weaken or discredit our country”.
The leader of the new church was chosen by a council that met at the St Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, built by the son of Prince Volodymyr whose baptism in 988 led to the spread of Christianity in the region.
Ukrainian authorities raided several Orthodox churches aligned with Russia earlier this month as religious tensions between the two countries grew.
“The question of autocephaly is a question of Ukrainian national security,” Poroshenko had told the council earlier. “This is a question of Ukrainian statehood. We acquire spiritual independence, which can be compared to the achievement of political independence. Break off the shackles, which bind us to the empire.”
The Russian church and the Kremlin have both said they fear Kiev will use force to take control of Moscow-loyal churches and monasteries.
Before the council, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow appealed to the pope, the UN and others in the west to defend his church in Ukraine from “persecution”.
The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, who is expected to attend the council, has made an independent church a campaign pledge as he looks ahead to an unpredictable presidential election next year.
Kiev officials have framed the issue as one of national security, and Poroshenko has in the past referred to the branch loyal to the Moscow patriarchate as a threat.
The synod comes shortly after a maritime crisis when Russia seized three Ukrainian navy ships and arrested 24 sailors in waters around Crimea.
If the attempt to create a unified Ukrainian church is successful, it would be among the largest in the Orthodox world in terms of number of believers.
