On July 26th, Pope Leo XIV received in audience Antonij Sevryuk of Volokolamsk, the Orthodox metropolitan bishop and president of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate—effectively the ‘foreign minister’ of the Russian Orthodox Church. Many issues were discussed, but three core topics dominated the table: the war in Ukraine, the resumption of ecumenical dialogue with the Russian Orthodox world, and, above all, Kyiv’s legislative effort to suppress the Russian Orthodox presence, as it is perceived as an instrument of Kremlin influence.
In August 2024, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a law banning the activities of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate.
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