Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says Ukraine, with the creation of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, has finally severed ties with Russia.
Read alsoTomos of autocephaly being exhibited in St Sophia Cathedral on Orthodox Christmas (Video)
"The creation of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine is the pledge of our independence. This is the foundation of our spiritual freedom. We've severed the last ties that connected us with Moscow and its fantasies about Ukraine as the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is not and won't be anymore," he said at the Christmas liturgy in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv where the tomos of autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was shown to the public.
As UNIAN reported, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I on January 5, 2019, signed the tomos in his residence in Istanbul, which proclaims the autocephaly of the newly formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
The tomos says that the Ecumenical Patriarchate recognizes a canonical, autocephalous, self-governing Orthodox Church within the limits of the politically formed territory of Ukraine.
The document also sets out the basic principles for the functioning of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
On January 7, the tomos was exhibited for the public at St. Sophia's Cathedral in Kyiv.
