MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Orthodox Church said on Friday it would no longer participate in structures chaired by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, deepening a row in Orthodox Christianity over the Ukrainian Church’s bid to break away from Moscow’s orbit.

FILE PHOTO: Clergymen of Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate take part in a ceremony marking the 1030th anniversary of the Christianisation of the country, which was then known as Kievan Rus', in Kiev, Ukraine July 28, 2018. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

The Russian Orthodox Church’s Holy Synod ruling body convened on Friday to consider how to respond as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has courted Constantinople to formally make it a self-governing body independent of Moscow.

Ukraine’s pro-Western political leaders have sought step by step to take the former Soviet republic out of Moscow’s orbit after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and a Moscow-backed insurgency broke out in eastern Ukraine.

Vladimir Legoida, a Russian Church spokesman, said the Holy Synod had decided to suspend its participation in all structures chaired or co-chaired by representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

It is also suspending all services with top priests of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and will not commemorate the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in its services, Legoida wrote on social media, summarizing the outcome of the meeting.

“Essentially this is a breakdown of relations. To take an example from secular life, the decision is roughly equivalent to cutting diplomatic ties,” the Russian Church’s Metropolitan Ilarion was quoted by RIA news agency as saying.

RIVAL CHURCHES

The Moscow Patriarchate is part of the Russian Orthodox Church and has a sizeable following in Ukraine.

Kiev considers it a tool for the Kremlin to wield influence, while the Moscow Patriarchate sees itself as the only legitimate Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said it was following the situation closely and opposed any split in Orthodoxy, adding that the state should not intervene in church matters.

“Of course for Moscow and indeed for the entire Orthodox world the single preferable scenario is the preservation of unity of this Orthodox world,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

The Moscow Patriarchate vies for influence in Ukraine with the Kiev Patriarchate - a branch of the Orthodox Church that broke away from Moscow in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union - and with other Orthodox and Catholic denominations.

The Kiev Patriarchate’s leader has been sharply critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and in 2014 suggested he was possessed by Satan.

The Ecumenical Patriarch does not wield the power enjoyed by the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church but is traditionally regarded as the ‘first among equals’ among the patriarchs of the self-governing Orthodox churches and also as the spiritual leader of the roughly 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.

The Ecumenical Patriarch, currently Bartholomew, also holds the title of Archbishop of Constantinople, the old Greek name for Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city. The city fell to the Muslim Turks in 1453 but has remained the historic seat of Orthodoxy.

However Russia has long been home to the world’s largest Orthodox Christian Church.</s>The rant between the Greek Orthodox Church based in Istanbul – regarded as the highest body in Orthodox Christianity – and the Russian Orthodox Church based in Moscow over the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church escalated to a new level with the latter announcing a formal rebuff after a meeting of top priests.

"We have decided to suspend joint performance of church services with the hierarchs of the Constantinople Patriarchate, to suspend our membership in all structures, which are headed or co-chaired by the representatives of Constantinople," Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church's External Relations Department, said following an extraordinary meeting of the Holy Synod, the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church, according to Russia Today.

Hilarion said that the move does not involve a complete rift between the churches and added that Moscow will not be participating in the work of some inter-church organizations.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow terminated the commemoration of the Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, but Eucharistic communion between the churches is not interrupted, according to the Holy Synod's decision carried by RIA.

The termination of the commemoration means that Patriarch Kirill will cease to pronounce the name of Bartholomew during the liturgy, that is, stop praying for him at the main service in the church. According to the ordinance of the patriarchal liturgy, several times during this service, they pray for the priests of all the local Orthodox churches of the world. According to the diptych – the list of these churches – recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church, today there are 15 in the world, and the Church of Constantinople, due to historical tradition, is first on this list.

The dispute between the two leading Orthodox churches erupted after the Fener Greek Patriarchate, internationally recognized as the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, decided to send two envoys to Ukraine.

The church in Ukraine has been tied to the Moscow Patriarchate for hundreds of years. But many Ukrainian parishes are rejecting the Moscow Patriarchate and have formed two separate churches that are pushing for recognition as a self-governing, or autocephalous, institution. There are currently three different Orthodox bodies in the country, namely the Ukrainian Orthodox Church tied to Moscow, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

In order for the churches to gain recognition, they need to be recognized either by Istanbul or at least half of other local Orthodox churches.

Calls for self-government have intensified since Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and its support for pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

Last week, those advocating self-government received a fillip when the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate said it was sending two bishops to Ukraine as a step toward declaring ecclesiastical independence for the church there.

The move by Patriarch Bartholomew I, who is considered the "first among equals" of Eastern Orthodox clerics, followed a meeting last month with Russian Orthodox Church's head, Patriarch Kirill, which failed to narrow their differences.

Patriarch Kirill strongly condemned the move during the opening of Friday's meeting of the Holy Synod, comparing it to the Ecumenical Patriarchate's actions during the split in the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1920s.

Metropolitan Onufriy, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that answers to Moscow Patriarchate, told the Holy Synod via a video call that the bishops sent by Bartholomew I had already arrived in Ukraine and established contacts with the heads of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has urged the Istanbul-based Patriarchate to grant Ukrainian Orthodox clerics full ecclesiastical independence from Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Friday that "worrying information about possible decisions regarding the church in Ukraine causes concern."

Peskov noted that "the state can't interfere in the church affairs," but added that "preservation of the Orthodox unity is the only preferable scenario for Moscow, as well as for the entire Orthodox world."

Nikolai Danilyevich, the external relations secretary of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said Friday that they learned Istanbul's move to appoint two envoys from online sources and this unilateral move will cause various problems for the Orthodox Christians in Ukraine.

Danilyevich said that they respect the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate but it had not acted as the patriarchate should have been acting. "All local Orthodox churches are worried of Fener Greek Patriarchate's actions on Ukraine. This will have no benefit for anyone, but grave problems," he said.

Meanwhile, Bishop Zorya Evstratiy, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate told the official Ukrinform agency that the envoys from Istanbul will complete their work regarding Kiev's independence at their Holy Synod gathering set to be held between Oct. 9 and 11.

He described Moscow's previous statement that they could sever ties with the Greek Orthodox Church as a "declaration of war, ultimatum and threat," stating they could only do so in a limited way.</s>The head of the Russian Orthodox Church chaired a meeting of top priests Friday to decide how to respond to the move by Orthodox Christianity's leading body to send two envoys to Ukraine.

The Russian church claims authority over the church in Ukraine. But many Ukrainian parishes are rejecting the Moscow Patriarchate and have formed a separate church that is pushing for recognition as a self-governing, or autocephalous, institution. The church in Ukraine has been tied to Moscow Patriarchate for hundreds of years.

Calls for self-government have accentuated since Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and its support for pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

Last week, those advocating self-government received a fillip when the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate said it was sending two bishops to Ukraine as a step toward declaring ecclesiastical independence for the church there.

The move by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who is considered the "first among equals" of Eastern Orthodox clerics, followed a meeting last month with Russian Orthodox Church's head, Patriarch Kirill, which failed to narrow their differences.

Patriarch Kirill strongly condemned the move while opening Friday's meeting of the Holy Synod and compared it to the Ecumenical Patriarchate's actions during the split in the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1920s.

Metropolitan Onufriy, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that answers to Moscow Patriarchate, told the Holy Synod via a video call that the bishops sent by Bartholomew I had already arrived in Ukraine and established contacts with the heads of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has urged the Istanbul-based Patriarchate to grant Ukrainian Orthodox clerics full ecclesiastical independence from Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Friday that "worrying information about possible decisions regarding the church in Ukraine causes concern."

Peskov noted that "the state can't interfere in the church affairs," but added that "preservation of the Orthodox unity is the only preferable scenario for Moscow, as well as for the entire Orthodox world."</s>MOSCOW (AP) — The head of the Russian Orthodox Church is chairing a meeting of top priests to decide how to respond to Orthodox Christianity’s leading body move to send two envoys to Ukraine.

The Russian church claims authority over the church in Ukraine. But many Ukrainian parishes reject the Moscow Patriarchate and have formed a separate church that is pushing for recognition as a self-governing, or autocephalous, institution.

The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate announced last week it was sending two bishops to Ukraine as a step toward declaring ecclesiastical independence for the church there.

Patriarch Kirill strongly condemned the move during Friday’s meeting of the Holy Synod and comparing to the split in the Russian Orthodox Church during the 1920s.</s>MOSCOW: The Russian Orthodox Church on Friday (Sep 14) cut "diplomatic ties" with Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, accusing him of encroaching on its religious territory in Ukraine.

As Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I is expected to rule in the coming months on a Ukrainian appeal to cut spiritual ties with Moscow amid a simmering military conflict in the east of the former Soviet country.

Ahead of the decision, he sent two representatives to Ukraine this month, sparking fury in Russia.

The ruling body of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to downgrade ties with its Istanbul-based rival at an emergency meeting Friday.

"The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has intruded on the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate by sending its exarchs to Kiev," Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Russian Church's foreign relations department, said at Moscow's Danilov Monastery.

He spoke after the ruling body of the Russian Orthodox Church, known as the Holy Synod, decided to cut what Metropolitan Hilarion described as "diplomatic ties" with the Istanbul-based rival.

According to the Holy Synod's decision, the Russian Orthodox Church will no longer conduct joint services with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and Patriarch Kirill will stop mentioning Bartholomew I in his prayers.

The Russian Orthodox Church will no longer take part in Episcopal Assemblies or any commissions or other structures chaired by representatives of Bartholomew I, said a statement released following the meeting.

If the Istanbul-based rival continues its "anti-canonical activities" the bonds will be severed completely, the statement added.

"The full responsibility for the tragic consequences of this schism will rest with Patriarch Batholomew I and bishops who support him," the statement said.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who is seen as a strong ally of President Vladimir Putin, wants to prevent pro-Western Ukraine from getting an independent church.

Such a move would be seen as a huge blow to Russia's spiritual authority in the Orthodox world.

The Orthodox church in Ukraine is split between a branch whose clerics pledge loyalty to Moscow and one that is overseen by the unrecognised Kiev-based Patriarch Filaret.

The split has deepened following the Russian annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of a separatist uprising in Ukraine's east in 2014.

Bartholomew I, known as Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, is regarded as the "first among equals" of the world's estimated 300 million Orthodox Christian believers.

While Constantinople is the oldest Orthodox Church, Moscow is currently the most powerful with the largest number of worshippers.</s>On September 7, Ukraine inched closer to a globally recognized international church. That day, Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew I placed Ukraine under the canonical jurisdiction of US Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon and Canadian Bishop Ilarion of Edmonton who head Ukrainian Orthodox Churches in both countries under Constantinople’s canonical jurisdiction. Since 1685, the Russian Orthodox Church has claimed Ukraine lies within its canonical territory, but no longer. The two appointments are preparation for granting the Orthodox Church in Ukraine autocephaly (independence) from the Russian Orthodox Church.

It’s no exaggeration to write that the granting of autocephaly from the Russian Orthodox Church to Ukraine’s millions of Orthodox believers is as significant as the disintegration of the USSR for Ukraine. Granting Ukraine’s Orthodox Church a Tomos is the last step Ukraine needs to take in order to become truly independent.

Why have the stars aligned now?

Ukraine has been seeking autocephaly since it became independent. When Metropolitan Filaret broke with the Russian Orthodox Church to establish the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarch (UOC-KP), it was never recognized by Constantinople. In 1990, under pressure from the nationalist drive for independence, the Russian Orthodox Church revived the autonomous status of its exarchate in Ukraine and renamed it the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), so there have been two competing Orthodox churches in Ukraine since then. The UOC has been loyal to Moscow, while the UOC-KP represents an independent Ukraine.

Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea and military aggression in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church and UOC have been unable to maintain neutrality. Russian Orthodox Church clergy have blessed Russian nationalists traveling to the Donbas. Some UOC clergy have refused to serve at funerals of Ukrainian soldiers and UOC Metropolitan Onufry (Berezovsky) and senior clergy refused to stand in parliament in honor of slain Ukrainian soldiers.

There’s another factor working in favor of independence now. As the former ideological secretary of the atheist Communist Party in Ukraine, President Leonid Kravchuk had no legitimacy on church-state matters, while President Viktor Yushchenko’s strongly supported the UOC-KP and was perceived as anti-Russian. President Leonid Kuchma was even-handed, while Yanukovych openly backed the Russian Orthodox Church.

President Petro Poroshenko is a deacon in the UOC and Constantinople does not view him as “anti-Russian.” Importantly, due to his influence, senior UOC clergy have supported the UOC-KP and smaller Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in seeking autocephaly. The Ukrainian parliament strongly backs independence. Poroshenko adopted a legalistic approach to seeking autocephaly that left the Russian Orthodox Church with little room to maneuver.

Russia also overplayed its hand in the Balkans and this also contributed. Russia’s involvement in an attempted violent coup in Montenegro to thwart it from joining NATO was followed by the expulsion of Russian intelligence officers from Greece attempting to derail the country’s rapprochement with Macedonia (permitting the latter to join NATO and EU).

The decision to grant Ukraine autocephaly should be understood in three ways:

First, size and power. Greece and the Constantinople Patriarch have had enough of Russia’s interference and see the emergence of an autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a way of cutting it down to size. In the USSR, two-thirds of Russian Orthodox Church parishes were in Soviet Ukraine. Today, despite Ukraine having a third of Russia’s population, both countries have roughly the same number of Orthodox parishes (14,000).

In the USSR, a majority of Russian Orthodox Church parishes were in western and central Ukraine, and that remains the case today. It was always therefore wrong to describe Ukraine divided between a “Catholic West” and “Orthodox East.” There are far fewer Orthodox churches in the Donbas.

There will not be a “civil war” over religion, and most UOC faithful will peacefully join Ukraine’s new autocephalous church.

Second, national identity. The USSR and Russian Federation have used the adoption of Orthodoxy in 988 to lay claim to Kyiv Rus as the “first Russian state.” This falsehood is sometimes repeated by Western journalists and nearly always in Western “histories of Russia.” Russian and Western historiography ignores the existence of Ukrainians until many centuries later and forever links them to Russians and Belarusians.

Russians believe, and Russian President Vladimir Putin constantly reiterates, Kyiv Rus gave birth to the three eastern Slavs and their desire in the Tsarist, Soviet, and contemporary eras was always to remain in union. Nationalists opposed to this idea were working for various Western empires, governments, and intelligence agencies.

In 2007, the Russkiy Mir (Russian World) was meant to unite Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine around the Russian Orthodox Church and become the core of the Eurasian Economic Union. Putin and Russian nationalists understand the word Russkiy to include the three branches of the “Russian” people (Belarussians, Russians, and Ukrainians) and regard Ukrainians as “Little Russians.” Ukrainians and Russians are “one people”’ and, as Putin said to the NATO-Russia Council in 2008, Ukraine is an artificial state.

Ukraine rejects Russkiy Mir ideology and support for membership in the Eurasian Economic Union has plummeted. Autocephaly will reinforce growth in Ukrainian patriotism, support national integration, and spur a final divorce from Russia.

Third, geopolitics. An independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church would mean that the Russian Orthodox Church is no longer the world’s biggest Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian and Romanian Orthodox Churches will be roughly equal in size. Constantinople will have a staunch Ukrainian ally in its dealings with the Russian Orthodox Church. While the Russian Orthodox Church is predictably anti-Western like Putin’s regime, the autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be pro-European.

Autocephaly will deepen existing changes in Ukrainian identity reflected in opinion polls. Ukraine’s emerging identity is premised upon European integration and distancing from Russia.

Since 2014, Russia’s soft power in Ukraine has collapsed. Only one percent of young Ukrainians support the Russian model of development while 69-71 percent of Ukrainians oppose it, including 56 percent of Russian speakers. This is an outgrowth of Russia associated in the eyes of Ukrainians with “aggression” (66 percent), “cruelty” (57 percent), and “dictatorship” (57 percent).

With the Russian Orthodox Church as the last source of Putin’s soft power now gone, Ukraine’s movement out of Russia’s orbit is irreversible. The creation of an autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church is Ukraine’s ultimate answer to Putin’s aggression.

Taras Kuzio is a non-resident fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins-SAIS, and is the author of “Putin’s War Against Ukraine” and co-author of “The Sources of Russia’s Great Power Politics: Ukraine and the Challenge to the European Order.”</s>The Russian Orthodox Church on Friday announced a rebuff to the leader of the worldwide Orthodox community, saying it would not participate in events headed by the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate due to a dispute over control of the church in Ukraine.

The church also announced at a meeting of top priests that it would not even remember Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in its prayers.

The meeting was called in order to respond to the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s decision last week to allow the Orthodox Church in Ukraine to be autocephalous — ecclesiastically independent. The Russian church, the world’s largest Orthodox communion, fiercely opposes the decision.

Church spokesman Metropolitan Ilarion insisted that Friday’s response by the leaders of Russian orthodoxy “do not mean a complete break of the Eucharistic communion.”

However, it is a significant show of resistance to the authority of Bartholomew, who is considered the “first among equals” among Orthodox leaders.

According to the Interfax news agency, Ilarion warned of a split in the church if efforts to move the Ukrainian church beyond Russian authority continue.

“We will be forced to completely break the Eucharistic communion and this will mean Constantinople patriarch, who often positions himself as the head of the planet’s 300 million Orthodox, will no longer be its head,” he said.

The church in Ukraine has been tied to the Moscow Patriarchate for hundreds of years, although many parishes have split off over the past two decades to form a schismatic church.

Calls for self-government have increased since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and its support for pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill strongly condemned the dispatch of the envoys while opening Friday’s meeting of the Holy Synod. He compared the move to the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s actions during the split in the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1920s.

Metropolitan Onufriy, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that answers to Moscow Patriarchate, told the Holy Synod via a video call that the bishops sent by Bartholomew I had already arrived in Ukraine and had established contacts with the heads of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has urged the Istanbul-based Patriarchate to grant Ukrainian Orthodox clerics full ecclesiastical independence from Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Friday that “worrying information about possible decisions regarding the church in Ukraine causes concern.”

Peskov noted that “the state can’t interfere in the church affairs,” but added that “preservation of the Orthodox unity is the only preferable scenario for Moscow, as well as for the entire Orthodox world.”</s>The Russian Orthodox Church is ending its participation in any structures chaired by the Constantinople Patriarchate, the Holy Synod said, as Constantinople decided to recognize the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“We have decided to suspend joint performance of church services with the hierarchs of the Constantinople Patriarchate, to suspend our membership in all structures, which are headed or co-chaired by the representatives of Constantinople,” Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s External Relations Department, said following an extraordinary meeting of the Holy Synod, the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The decision does not mean that the two churches are completely severing ties, Hilarion told journalists, adding that the decision refers only to the Moscow Patriarchate’s participation in the work of some inter-church organizations.

The measures taken by the Russian Church so far are a “warning” to Constantinople, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill’s press secretary told journalists. Earlier, Hilarion warned that the Russian Orthodox Church could break all relations with the Constantinople Patriarchate if it grants independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is still part of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The move follows Constantinople’s decision to send its exarchs to Kiev, which violates the rule that forbids one Orthodox Church to interfere in the internal affairs of another, the synod said earlier, adding that it also goes against the official position of the Constantinople Patriarchate itself, which has so far considered the Ukrainian Orthodox Church a part of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Exarchs are special representatives of a patriarch that have a higher position in the church hierarchy than a metropolitan, the current head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Russian Orthodox Church regards Constantinople’s decision as the first step towards recognizing the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Even though all independent Orthodox Churches are equal, the Constantinople Patriarchate has more leverage on inter-church issues due to its historical location and its role as the Mother Church of most modern Orthodox churches. The Constantinople Patriarch also enjoys the status of the ‘first among the equals’ and is widely regarded as a spiritual leader of world’s Orthodox Christians, even though his status is nothing like that of the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church.

Most Orthodox clerics in Ukraine still pledge loyalty to the head of the Russian church, Patriarch Kirill, and consider themselves to be part of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian authorities, however, support a schismatic force, which originated back in the 1990s and calls itself the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate.

Unrecognized by all other Orthodox Churches, this religious movement led by the former Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, who is now called Patriarch Filaret in Ukraine, seeks to gain the status of an Orthodox Church, which is fully independent and “equal” to the Moscow Patriarchate. Meanwhile, it has taken Ukrainian churches from the Russian Orthodox Church by force with the help of local nationalists.

Unrecognized by all other Orthodox Churches, this religious movement led by the former Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, who is now called Patriarch Filaret in Ukraine, seeks to gain the status of an Orthodox Church, which is fully independent and “equal” to the Moscow Patriarchate. Meanwhile, it has taken Ukrainian churches from the Russian Orthodox Church by force with the help of local nationalists.</s>The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided earlier in the day that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will cease commemoration of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, but full communion between the churches will not be suspended yet.

The move is a response to the Constantinople Patriarchate appointing its exarchs to Ukraine as "part of preparation to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

"The war of the Patriarchate of Constantinople against the Moscow one continues for almost a hundred years… Today history repeats itself. Again, as in the time of Patriarch Tikhon, they send their exarchs to us, supposedly to heal the split, but in fact to legitimize it, with a view for the subsequent split of the Ukrainian Church from the Moscow Patriarchate. The same logic is traced: the use of a difficult situation not for the brotherly support, but for weakening the Russian Church by detaching certain parts from it," Metropolitan Hilarion wrote on Facebook.

In April, Poroshenko said that Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was launching the procedures required to establish the Autocephalous Church in Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox Church condemned the move, saying that the anti-canonical measures in Ukraine threatened to split the Orthodoxy.

READ MORE: Politics Out of Religion: Polish Orthodox Bishops Reject Kiev Bid for Self-Rule</s>Russia’s Orthodox church has announced it will cut ties with the head of the church in Constantinople in a bitter row over plans to recognise a rival branch in the pro-Western portion of Ukraine.

The Russian renunciation of ties came as Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Constantinople and de facto head of the Orthodox church’s 300 million Christians, looked set to approve the new Ukrainian church in a serious blow to the authority and prestige of Moscow.

Ahead of the decision, Patriarch Bartholomew sent two representatives to Ukraine this month, sparking fury in Russia where the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, continues to see Ukraine as part of a greater Russia.

In an apparent pre-emptive move against Bartholmew’s impending recognition, the Russian Orthodox Church said on Friday it would no longer conduct joint services with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and its own Patriarch, Kirill, will stop mentioning Bartholomew I in his prayers.

"Essentially this is a breakdown of relations. To take an example from secular life, the decision is roughly equivalent to cutting diplomatic ties," the Russian Church's Metropolitan Hilarion was quoted by RIA news agency as saying.
The Russian Orthodox Church freezes its relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople over its influence in Ukraine.