ISTANBUL (AP) — The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has presented a decree of independence to the Metropolitan bishop of the nascent Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

In Istanbul on Sunday, Patriarch Bartholomew I presented the Tomos, a scroll containing the decree, in a symbolic ceremony sanctifying the Ukrainian church's independence from the Russian Orthodox Church. He signed the decree on Saturday.

The decision to split from the Moscow Patriarchate after more than three centuries of ties has angered Russia. The Russian church has severed ties with Istanbul, the center of the Orthodox world.

Metropolitan Epiphanius I, who was elected last month by Ukrainian Orthodox leaders to head the new church, will take the decree to Kiev.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has campaigned for the new church, is attending the two-day ceremony. </s> ISTANBUL — The spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide recognized the independence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in a four-hour ceremony in Istanbul on Sunday, formalizing a split with the Russian church to which it had been tied for more than four centuries.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader, handed a Tomos containing a decree of independence to the newly appointed Metropolitan Epiphanius of Ukraine, cleaving millions of Ukrainians from the Russian Orthodox Church.

The independence effort outraged political and religious leaders in Russia. But for President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine, who stood before an elevated throne throughout the ceremony in Istanbul, the occasion was an affirmation of independence from Russian influence in his embattled country and a boost ahead of elections in March.

“Tomos for us is actually another act of proclaiming Ukraine’s independence,” Mr. Poroshenko said in an address posted on the presidency’s website. “For Ukrainians, our own Church is a guarantee of our spiritual freedom. This is the key to social harmony.” </s> ISTANBUL (AP) — The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has signed a decree of independence for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Patriarch Bartholomew I signed the "Tomos" in Istanbul Saturday, formalizing the Ukrainian church's independence from the Russian Orthodox Church to which it has been tied to since 1686. The move is forcing Ukrainian clerics to pick sides as fighting persists in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed rebels.

Last month, Ukrainian Orthodox leaders approved the creation of a new, unified church split from the Moscow Patriarchate and elected Metropolitan Epiphanius to lead it. The Russian church has severed ties with Istanbul, the center of the Orthodox world.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has campaigned for the creation of the new church, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the ceremony. </s> ISTANBUL — The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople on Sunday presented a decree of independence to the Metropolitan bishop of the nascent Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

In Istanbul, Patriarch Bartholomew I presented the Tomos, a scroll containing the decree, in a symbolic ceremony sanctifying the Ukrainian church’s independence from the Russian Orthodox Church. He signed the decree a day earlier.

Ukraine’s decision to split from the Moscow Patriarchate after more than three centuries of ties has deeply angered Russia. The move comes as fighting continues in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed rebels and it forces clergy and believers in Ukraine to choose between belonging to Moscow-backed churches or the new Ukrainian Orthodox one.

Bartholomew I, considered first among equals in Orthodox patriarchy, announced the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has become the 15th independent Orthodox church. He argued Ukrainians “desired ecclesiastical independence” for centuries and never accepted that they were part of the Russian church.

The patriarch also entreated that the new church “strive for unity and peace” with clergy who remain under Moscow’s orbit and help reconciliation to “help them understand that Ukraine deserves a united church body.”

Following Bartholomew I’s October decision for independence, the Russian church severed ties with Istanbul, the center of the Orthodox world.

Metropolitan Epiphanius I, who was elected last month by Ukrainian Orthodox leaders to head the new church, will take the decree to Kiev.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has campaigned for the new church, attended the two-day ceremony in Istanbul.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate says it will move forward with its decision to grant Ukrainian clerics independence from the Russian Orthodox Church.

The decision was announced Thursday following a regular holy synod meeting.

Ukraine has asked Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, seen by many as the first among equals of Eastern Orthodox leaders, to make the Ukrainian church autocephalous.

The church has been tied to the Moscow Patriarchate for hundreds of years, although many parishes have split off over the past two decades to form a schismatic church. Calls for independence have increased since Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.

The Russian Orthodox Church has warned that it will sever ties with Bartholomew if he grants Ukraine's church autonomy. </s> Before signing, the priests held a prayer in the Patriarchal Church of St. George.

At the ceremony held in Istanbul on Saturday, January 5, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed the tomos of autocephaly, that is, canonical independence, of the newly-created Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy, former President Viktor Yushchenko, and other guests attended the ceremony.

Before signing, the priests held a prayer in the Patriarchal Church of St. George. After that, OCU Metropolitan Epifaniy and Petro Poroshenko held a meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch.

It was after this meeting that the signing ceremony took place.

Thus, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine became the 15th local Orthodox church. </s> Istanbul: An independent Ukrainian Orthodox church has been created at a signing ceremony in Turkey, formalising a split with the Russian church it had been tied to since 1686.

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, signed the "Tomos" in Istanbul in front of clerics and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday, forming the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

It forces Ukrainian clerics to pick sides between the Moscow-backed Ukrainian churches and the new church as fighting persists in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed rebels.

"The pious Ukrainian people have awaited this blessed day for seven entire centuries," Bartholomew I said in his address. </s> The granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is “a secular event,” Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Antoniy (Pakanych) said.

“I would like to emphasize that the Christian holiday should not be outshined by a certain secular event. There were a lot of such events in our history. So, those events, which were believed to be great some time ago, then became shameful both for the church history and for those people, who signed that sort of documents,” he said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Sunday.

The documents that have been earlier signed caused some problems to the Christians, the metropolitan said.

“Various documents were signed, both unions and tomos, but all of this unfortunately very often caused some difficulties in the life to the Christians, and only those people, who deal with the church history, are aware of them now,” he said.

On October 11, 2018, the Constantinople Patriarchate’s Synod in Istanbul invalidated its decree of 1686 on the transfer of the Kyiv Metropolinate to Moscow, declared the creation of a metochion in Kyiv, and rehabilitated the leaders of the self-proclaimed Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. In response, the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate declared the full severance of relations with Constantinople.

On January 5, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed a tomos granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine at the St. George’s Cathedral in Istanbul. </s> CONSTANTINOPLE (AP) — A senior official in the Orthodox Church says “there’s no going back” in granting Ukrainian clerics full ecclesiastic independence from the Russian Orthodox Church.

However, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, who is part of a committee dealing with the Ukrainian question, told The Associated Press that the final step of the procedure has yet to be reached.

His comments came as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I welcomed Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Istanbul on Friday.

Ukraine’s president has launched a campaign to persuade Bartholomew, seen by many as the first among equals of Orthodox leaders, to accept Ukraine’s request.

Ukrainian politicians see a declaration, known as a “Tomos of Autocephaly,” as a key step in consolidating their country’s national identity.

Russian religious leaders see it as an attack on Orthodox unity.
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I signs the independence decree ('tomos') officially separating the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Russian Orthodox Church as autocephalous Church.