peoples.ru

At the ceremony held in Istanbul on Saturday, January 5, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed the tomos of autocephaly, that is, canonical independence, of the newly-created Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy, former President Viktor Yushchenko, and other guests attended the ceremony.

Before signing, the priests held a prayer in the Patriarchal Church of St. George. After that, OCU Metropolitan Epifaniy and Petro Poroshenko held a meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch.

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It was after this meeting that the signing ceremony took place.

Thus, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine became the 15th local Orthodox church.