Russian Orthodox Church Sets secession From Istanbul Patriarchate

The Russian Orthodox Church has said on Monday it has decided to sever all relations with Constantinople's Ecumenical Patriarchate in protest of adopting Ukraine's request for a church “autocere” or independent.

Speaking in Belarus, after a meeting of the Russian Church's governing body, Mitrovici Hilarion, said that the Holy Synod had no choice but to sever ties with the Patriarchate in Istanbul, the headquarters of the global spiritual leader for about 300 million Orthodox Christians.

Ukraine last week secured approval from Constantinople to establish an independent church in what Kiev said was a vital step against Russian intervention in its affairs, but which the Russian Orthodox Church described as the largest division of Christianity in the last thousand years.

The decision that was made was to completely sever ties with the Patriarchate of Istanbul. No other decision could be taken by our Holy Council because the logic of all recent actions taken by the Patriarchate of Constantinople led to this” situation, Mitrovici Hilarion said of the Belarusian media in Minsk. /Top Channel