The Russian Orthodox Church cuts all ties with Constantinople

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Reuters

The Russian Orthodox Church says it cuts all ties with the Patriarchate of Constantinople – the body that exercises spiritual authority over the Orthodox Christians of the world.

Constantinople recently recognized the independence of the Ukrainian Church from the Moscow Patriarchate.

Many Ukrainian Christians accuse the Russian Church of favoring Russia-backed rebels in the east of Ukraine.

Constantinople dominates more than 300 million Orthodox Christians in the world.

Moscow rejects the independence of the Ukrainian church.

Metropolitan Hilarion, bishop at the head of the diplomacy of the Russian Orthodox Church, told the press in Belarus: "It was decided to break the full communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople."

The bishop said that Constantinople's decision to recognize all Ukrainian churches as independent from Moscow was "against the historical truth".

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AFP

Constantinople had previously rejected the Ukrainian Church's independence, but had decided to approve them last week.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the independence of the Church goes hand in hand with the independence of Ukraine.

"It is a question of Ukrainian national security.It is a question of the Ukrainian state."

Ukraine became independent of Russia in 1991, but the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and fighting in eastern Ukraine poisoned relations.

The Moscow Patriarchate denied being a tool of the Kremlin and claimed to have tried to restore peace in eastern Ukraine.

The Patriarchate said that he hoped that Constantinople would change by recognizing the independence of the Ukrainian Church in order to avoid a schism.

Russia considers Kiev as the historical cradle of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Kremlin recently said that it feared clashes in Ukraine about Orthodox sites where are organized the services of the Moscow Patriarchate.