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Istanbul (AFP) – The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate said Thursday that it has agreed to recognize the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in a gesture greeted with enthusiasm by Kiev but condemned as "catastrophic" in Moscow.
Russia had warned of the possibility of the Ukrainian Church breaking ties with Moscow, Patriarch Kirill, a powerful leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, traveling to Istanbul earlier this year to deter patriarchy.
The issue is expected to play a key role in the presidential elections of March 2019 in Ukraine. The current president, Petro Poroshenko, has declared his independence from the Russian Orthodox Church, known as "autocephaly", while planning a bid for re-election.
Poroshenko quickly hailed the decision of the Patriarchate, based in its historic home in Istanbul, former Constantinople and once the capital of the Byzantine Empire before the Muslim conquest by the Ottomans in 1453.
"It's a victory of good over evil, light on darkness," Poroshenko said in a televised address, adding that Ukraine has been waiting for this "historic event" for more than 330 years.
But the Russian Orthodox Church said the patriarchy had made "catastrophic" decisions for itself and for global orthodoxy.
"The Patriarchate of Constantinople has crossed a red line," Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill spokesman Alexander Volkov said in a televised address.
– & # 39; reintegrated canonically & # 39; –
The Moscow Patriarchate, which is strongly backed by the Kremlin, claims that it technically oversees most of the Orthodox parishes of Ukraine and warned that independence would provoke a break in the world Orthodox world .
The Ukrainian Church is currently divided into three organs, one technically supervised by the Moscow Patriarch, which the Kiev government considers unacceptable given its ongoing war with Russia-backed rebels in the east.
A synod convened in Istanbul under the presidency of Patriarch Bartholomew, considered the first among the equals of the leaders of the Orthodox Church, "decreed the procedure for the granting of autocephaly to the & à à à à à à à à à à,,. Church of Ukraine, "announced a statement read in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople.
In another important movement, the synod also agreed to reinstate the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Filaret, and the Metropolitan of Kiev, Makariy in their canonical ranks, as a result of their excommunication during the conflict with Moscow.
"Thus, the aforementioned people have been reinstated canonically in their hierarchical or priestly rank," said the statement after a meeting that began Tuesday.
– 'Serve the Ukrainian people & # 39; –
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine was separated from Moscow in the 1990s with the charismatic Filaret, one of the main supporters of a new independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
In his first reaction, Filaret said Thursday's decision would allow his country to finally establish a united church in Ukraine and wanted to convene a meeting soon to deal with the issue of unification and elect a new patriarch.
"We want the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to be united not only in appearance, but also in spirit, so that it can serve the Ukrainian people," Filaret told reporters in front of Kiev's St. Volodymyr Cathedral.
The Moscow Patriarchate has already degraded its ties with Bartholomew I about the affair, which he considers an unfair attack on his spiritual territory.
On Wednesday, an influential cleric of the Moscow Patriarch went so far as to warn that the parishioners would not give up the churches to a new Orthodox institution.
"Of course, people will go out on the streets and protect their sacred sites," Hilarion, a bishop in charge of patriarchal diplomacy, was quoted by Russian agencies at a religious congress in Kazakhstan as saying.
Bartholomew I, a Turkish citizen of Greek descent who demands enormous respect from the world for the promotion of interfaith dialogue, will not want to antagonize the Turkish authorities who advocate a strong alliance policy with the world. Russia.
Ukraine and Russia have disagreed since 2014, when demonstrations in the Kiev street, calling for the integration of Ukraine into Europe, prompted the pro-Moscow president , Viktor Yanukovych, to be ousted.
Russia annexed the Ukrainian Peninsula of Crimea later that year and supported the rebels who divided two unrecognized separatist regions in the east of Ukraine, rich in minerals, into a protracted conflict until today.
Ukrainian authorities and many faithful are wary of the influence of Kirill, a powerful ally of President Vladimir Putin, who supported the annexation of Crimea by Ukraine and separatists of the country. east of the country.
