Ukraine’s Orthodox Church moves closer to autonomy

VLADIMIR PUTIN often repeats the claim that Russia and Ukraine are “one people”. Yet by annexing Crimea and waging war in eastern Ukraine, he has pushed his neighbours ever farther away. Perhaps nothing symbolises this movement more vividly than Ukraine’s campaign for an independent Orthodox church, which came closer to becoming reality last week after Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the “first among equals” in the eastern Christian world, signalled his support. The Russian Orthodox Church responded by severing ties with Constantinople, warning of a historic schism.

Although the theological debate may be arcane, the secular stakes are huge. The only Orthodox church with international legitimacy on Ukrainian territory owes its allegiance to the Moscow Patriarchate, which is led by Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of Mr Putin’s. As Russia’s war with Ukraine drags into its fifth year, many Ukrainians see a fully independent national church as an essential means of breaking from Moscow’s orbit. Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, calls it part of Ukraine’s westward integration. The Kremlin sees it as a challenge to Mr Putin’s concept of a “Russian World”, united by common Orthodox roots, encompassing Ukraine and Belarus.