page_title: Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
section_title: Tomos of autocephaly
hierarchical_section_title: Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine / Tomos of autocephaly
caption_attribution_description: English: Working visit of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to the Turkish Republic (2019-01-05) Русский: Рабочий визит Президента Украины Петра Порошенко в Турецкую Республику (2019-01-05) Українська: Робочий візит Президента України Петра Порошенка до Турецької Республіки
context_page_description: On 5 January 2019, Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, signed the tomos that officially recognized and established the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and granted it autocephaly. The events immediately leading to the grant of autocephaly were:
  On 11 October 2018, the synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate announced that it would "proceed to the granting of autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine", making it independent from the Russian Orthodox Church.
  This decision led the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to break communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 15 October 2018, which marked the beginning of the 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism.
  On 15 December 2018 a unification council founded the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
  On 5 January 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew signed the tomos of autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
context_section_description: On 5 January 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew and Metropolitan Epiphanius celebrated a Divine Liturgy in St. George's Cathedral in Istanbul; the tomos was signed thereafter, also in St. George's Cathedral.
  The tomos "has come into force from the moment of its signing". The signing of the tomos officially established the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine. President Poroshenko traveled to Istanbul to attend the signing ceremony.
  After the tomos was signed, Patriarch Batholomew made an address to Metropolitan Epiphanius. President Poroshenko and Metropolitan Epiphanius also made speeches. On 6 January, after a Liturgy celebrated by Metropolitan Epiphanius and Patriarch Bartholomew, Partriarch Bartholomew read the tomos of the OCU and then gave it to Metropolitan Epiphanius. President Poroshenko was present during the signing and handing over of the tomos.
  On 6 January 2019, Daniel (Zelinsky) of Pamphilon declared his mission in Ukraine as an exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was "the complete proclamation of the tomos and at the same time the unification council. So I'm coming back to my flock in the United States in literally a day."
  On 8 January 2019, the tomos was brought back to Istanbul so that all the members of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate could sign the tomos.
  The representative of the press service of the OCU, priest Ivan Sydor, said the tomos was valid after the signature of the Ecumenical Patriarch, "but according to the procedure, there must also be the signatures of those bishops who take part in the synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate." Former press secretary of the UOC-KP, Eustratius (Zorya), declared the Ecumenical Patriarch recognized the OCU by signing the tomos of autocephaly and by concelebrating the liturgy with Epiphanius while considering Epiphanius as primate of the OCU. The Ecumenical Patriarchate declared on 8 January 2019 that the tomos was "approved and valid" and that the signing by the whole synod was a "purely technical step", and that "the validity of the tomos as an act of granting autocephaly is not in any way affected". It added that Ukraine had asked for the tomos to be brought to Ukraine for Christmas instead of leaving it in Istanbul for a few days until the whole synod signed it. Doctor in theology Cyrill Govorun of the UOC-MP argued that the tomos would take effect only when all the members of the synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate will have signed it.
  The tomos was signed by all members of the Holy synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 9 January 2019. The tomos, signed by all members of the Holy synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was brought back to Ukraine on the morning of 10 January 2019.
  The tomos was made on a parchment by a famous painter and calligrapher of Mount Athos, hieromonk Lucas from the monastery of Xenophontos.
  On 7 February 2019, Metropolitan Anthony of the UOC of the USA declared to President Poroshenko concerning the granting of the tomos: "The entire process was carried out by the Holy Spirit. We believed, but did not expect it to happen so soon. Thank God, you have led this process since last April starting from the visit to Constantinople. [...] This is an incredible and the most important event in the history of the Ukrainian nation. It seemed that it was impossible. You spoke as the great leader of the nation and entered the history of mankind as the man who brought the Tomos to Ukraine. We have been waiting for such a leadership for many years, much more than you."
caption: The Tomos of autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine [uk] itself
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