Moscow • The Russian Orthodox Church decided Monday to sever ties with the leader of the worldwide Orthodox community after his decision to grant Ukrainian clerics independence from the Moscow Patriarchate.
Metropolitan Hilarion said the Russian church’s Holy Synod resolved to “‘break the Eucharistic communion” with the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Under the leadership of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the patriarchate last week removed its condemnation of leaders of schismatic Orthodox churches in Ukraine. The decision marked a step toward establishing an ecclesiastically independent — or autocephalous — church in Ukraine.
The Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church since the late 1600s.