The Moscow branch of the Orthodox Church officially broke with Russian spiritual authorities on Friday. At the end of a council, its leaders declared “the full independence and autonomy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”.
It is a historic initiative. The council expressed a total rejection of Patriarch Kirill’s position on the war “. Not only did the Patriarch of Moscow fail to condemn Russian military aggression in Ukraine, but he also failed to find words for the suffering Ukrainian people, a church spokesman said.
From the start of the invasion, Patriarch Kirill had defended the military operation. An operation carried out against the forces of evil “, in his words. The patriarch, who has also had soldiers and missiles blessed, is close to power and to Vladimir Putin, whose positions he takes over. Even if the Russian Orthodox Church has no official link with the Russian Federation, which is a secular state.
major heartbreak
Part of the Ukrainian Church, that of the kyiv Patriarchate, had already broken with the authority of Patriarch Kirill in 2019 and pledged allegiance to Patriarch Bartholomew of Istanbul. But until now the Muscovite Church of Ukraine had remained faithful to the authority of the Patriarch of Moscow.
This new schism is a major heartbreak and very detrimental to the Patriarch of Moscow because the majority of parishes in Ukraine were under the authority of the Moscow Orthodox Church. Ukraine has some of the most important monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Many consequences will flow from this decision. Now, the two Ukrainian Orthodox churches and then the autocephalous, independent church of Ukraine will find themselves almost face to face, even if there were bridges between the two churches. The Independent Autocephalous Church welcomes this decision very positively, but there is still a question of material goods that arises. And it is surely on this point that tensions will increase.
