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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Ukraine creates new Orthodox church independent from Russia |
| 2018-12-16 |
| [Al Jazeera] A council of Orthodox bishops has created a new Ukrainian church, marking an historic split from Russia which its leaders see as vital to the country's security and independence. The announcement on Saturday came after Ukrainian priests held a synod in capital Kiev's 11th-century Saint Sophia Cathedral to establish an Orthodox church independent from Moscow. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced that 39-year-old Metropolitan Epifaniy of the Kiev Patriarchate church is the head of the new church. His secular name is Sergiy Dumenko. "This day will go down in history as a sacred day ... the day of the final independence from Russia," Poroshenko told thousands of supporters, who shouted "Glory! Glory! Glory!" "I would like to call on all our brothers, bishops and all believers to the newly created united Ukrainian Orthodox Church," Yepifaniy told the crowd outside the cathedral. "The doors of our church are open to all." 'MATTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY' The newly formed community is now expected to receive independence from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Istanbul-based institution considered the so-called "first among equals" of leaders of the world's Orthodox Churches. Poroshenko said he would travel with Epifaniy to Istanbul in January to receive an official Tomos from the head of global Orthodoxy granting the new church independence. Poroshenko, who has made the creation of a new church a key campaign issue before elections next year, told the bishops that the state "did everything it could" towards the creation of the church. "Ukraine was not, is not, and will not be the canonical territory of the Russian church," Poroshenko said, adding that an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church was now a "matter of national security". |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 So, what does some [former] klingon have to do with this? https://www.rt.com/news/446437-filaret-awards-jack-devine/ |
| Posted by: Clem 2018-12-16 00:34 |