Last week Ukraine’s Orthodox Church got confirmation that it will likely receive the independence from Moscow that it has long sought. The issue is complex, and the terminology foreign to most readers. The issue of the Ukrainian church is similar to an iceberg. What appears above the surface is political, but the largest part underneath has nothing to do with politics. Millions of Orthodox Ukrainians were considered outside of spiritual unity with the rest of the Orthodox world. Thousands of other Orthodox Christians who belonged to the only legitimate Orthodox Church in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), felt uncomfortable there because it seems to channel Russia’s political agenda. This is the same country which annexed Crimea and launched a hybrid war in Ukraine’s east.
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Cyril Hovorun: What really happened in Constantinople last week
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gives a speech at a mass prayer on Oct. 14, 2018 in Kyiv. The prayer was held to express gratitude to the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate for granting approval to plans to create the country's independent church.
