The newly independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church held its first Easter services on April 28 in Kyiv and around the country, with believers flocking to be blessed with a splash of holy water, and to have their Easter cakes and eggs blessed.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church regained its independence officially on Jan. 5, when it received a Tomos or deed of autocephaly — a church document recognizing the independence of the church. The Tomos was issued by the Ecumenical Patriarchy of Constatinople, the foremost of the 15 Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.
The issuing of the Tomos reversed three centuries of domination of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine by the Russian Orthodox Church. The new Ukrainian Orthodox Church was formed from a merger of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
These two independent Orthodox denominations were set up in Ukraine after the fall of communism and regaining of Ukraine’s independence in 1991, but they were never recognized by Constantinople.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), which is governed from Russia, continues to exist in Ukraine, but the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the mother church for the Russian Orthodox Church, now disputes the legality of the Moscow Patriarchate’s claim of ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Ukraine.
