UKRAINIANS who long for a globally recognised national church were left cautiously encouraged by a meeting in Istanbul on August 31st. It took place between two of the most prominent figures in the eastern Christian world: Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch, considered “first among equals” in the worldwide Orthodox hierarchy, and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, to whose spiritual leadership a majority of Russians at least notionally defer.
Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, has invested huge political capital in his efforts to establish a legitimate national church, promising his people that he will persuade Patriarch Bartholomew to bless the country's full ecclesiastical independence. The Moscow Patriarchate, which currently controls a majority of Ukraine's Orthodox parishes, has said that if this wish is granted, it could create the biggest split in Christendom for 1,000 years. The church in Ukraine has largely been controlled from Russia since 1686: the disagreement is in part over whether the transfer of control in 1686 was legitimate and permanent
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