KYIV – The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople decreed on October 11 that processes continue toward creating a fully self-governed Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The move, following a three-day Holy Synod in Istanbul, further solidifies support for an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church that Moscow has for centuries opposed.

In a communiqué issued on October 11, the Chief Secretariat of the Holy and Sacred Synod stated that it renewed the “decision already made that the Ecumenical Patriarchate proceed to the granting of autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine.”