The Russian Orthodox Church announced on Sept. 14 it would stop praying for the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, the formal leader of the Christian Orthodox believers and would take other steps to distance itself from the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Eastern Orthodox Church, to which all national churches subordinate.
The Russian Church took the measures in reaction to Constantinople Patriarchate’s decision to appoint its official representatives in Ukraine, seen as a sign that it will finally grant the Ukrainian Orthodox church independence from the Russian church.
The Russian church said it’s not fully breaking ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul yet, but threatened to do so if it keeps supporting Ukrainian church’s claim for independence.
Read also: Ukraine’s Orthodox Church battles for independence
For centuries, the Ukranian Orthodox church was subordinated to the Russian church in the Eastern Orthodox hierarchy. The Russian church, in its turn, has been formally subordinated to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, to which Eastern Orthodoxes refer by its old name, Constantinople.
Now, Ukraine’s effort to cut religious ties with Russia appears to be splitting the Eastern Orthodox world.
Ukraine, where some 70 percent of the population identifies as Eastern Orthodox Christians, has three Orthodox churches. But only the biggest one of them, subordinated to the Moscow Patriarchate, is recognized by the universal ecumenical church. While the Moscow-controlled church has more parishes in Ukraine, a growing number of Ukrainians has been choosing the independent church with the center in Kyiv, which formed when several bishops broke away from the Moscow church in 1992 but has not been recognized by the global Orthodox community.
After Russia annexed Ukrainian Crimea and later unleashed war in Ukraine’s east in 2014, Moscow Church supported the Kremlin’s aggression, which hit its popularity in Ukraine.
In spring, the Ukrainian government and President Petro Poroshenko appealed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate to grant Ukraine an independent status in the Eastern Orthodox hierarchy.
And it seems like the church leaders are ready to do it. On Aug. 31, at his meeting with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the leader of Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople reportedly announced the intention to grant the autocephaly, or independence, to Ukraine.
Soon after the meeting, on Sept. 7, the Constantinople Patriarchate for the first time appointed its official representatives, or exarchs, in Ukraine – archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon from the United States, and bishop Ilarion of Edmonton from Canada.
The Moscow Church condemned the decision. For the Moscow Church, losing Ukraine would mean losing millions of parishioners as well as control over some of the most important Eastern Orthodox churches and monasteries, like the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery.
So on Sept. 14, the Russian Church announced in a statement on their official website they would cut the Ecumenical Patriarch’s name from their service, and wouldn’t conduct service with the hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate or take part in any events it presides.
The Moscow Church said that the taken steps didn’t yet mean “the complete rupture of eucharistic communion” with Constantinople.
“In case of continuation of the anti-canonical activity of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, we will be compelled to completely break the Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople,” their statement reads.
The Moscow Patriarchate also invited other churches to join the discussion of “the church situation in Ukraine.”
The independent Kyiv Patriarchate Church condemned Moscow’s actions calling them “groundless, not justified either from the theological, historical or canonical point of view.”
The statement says there must be serious theological violations for one patriarch of the church to not pray for the other, like preaching heresy.
The Kyiv church also states that despite Moscow believes that Ukraine is its canonical territory, it is far from the truth.
They point out that the Christianization of the Kyivan Rus, a Slavic state centered in Kyiv, was conducted in the 10th century by Constantinople, and the Russian Orthodox Church took control over the Ukrainian Church only in the 17th century.
For this reason, the Kyiv Church says that Moscow shouldn’t call the appointment of Constantinople’s representatives in Ukraine an interference in their canonical territory.
“On the contrary, the Moscow Patriarchate for more than 300 years roughly violates canonical norms,” the statement reads.
