Posted on 10/14/2018 9:01:59 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Patriarch Bartholomew I -- considered the leader of roughly 300 million Orthodox Christians, or "first among equals" of Eastern Orthodox clerics -- to "proceed to the granting of autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine" marked a clear step closer to another remarkable break from Moscow and its reach into Kyiv's affairs.
After taking a moment to say a prayer, Natalia, a retired schoolteacher and parishioner of St. Volodymyr's, told RFE/RL that her previous prayer -- for her church to be legitimized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and broken free from Russia -- had been answered.
The push for independence, "was our own form of a tribunal, or referendum" on the Russian Orthodox Church and the grip it held on Ukraine's Orthodox Christians for hundreds of years.
"It's a blessing," Natalia said. "I'm happy. We're all just so happy today. Praise God."
The morning after news that the creation of an independent Ukrainian church was imminent, there was a steady flow of worshipers coming and going from Kyiv's yellow-and-blue St. Volodymyr's Cathedral, the mother cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, as its golden cupolas glistened in the autumn sun.
It looked more or less the same as any other day, except for the slightly increased crowd and the smiles on their faces, said Tamara, a parishioner who volunteers her time to sell candles at the gates of the cathedral. "The Tomos is coming," she said with a big smile of her own as she handed a woman a yellow candle.
(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...
Are we seeing two major Christian Churches,the RCC and the ROC in civil war or schism mode?
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