The top story for Ukraine’s Churches during 2019 was the granting of official independence to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine with the presentation of a Tomos of Autocephaly by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on January 6 (Christmas Eve according to the Julian calendar and Theophany Eve according to the Gregorian calendar) at St. George Cathedral at the Phanar in Istanbul. Metropolitan Epifaniy, the newly elected head of the newly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine (following the decisions of the Unification Council), received the Tomos after concelebrating divine liturgy with Patriarch Bartholomew. The document was written at Xenophontos Monastery on Mount Athos, Greece, by Hieromonk Luke, a skilled calligrapher and hagiographer.
“Today, a new page opens in the history of Ukraine,” Patriarch Bartholomew said on January 5 after signing the scroll. “We entreat and exhort you to strive for unity and peace… also with those brother hierarchs who still remain under the omophorion of… our brother Patriarch of Moscow, in order that, through your inspired presence and prudent administrative service, you may help them understand that Ukraine deserves a unity Church body.”