The Ukrainian Orthodox Church today (January 5, 2019) formally received its independence as Patriarch Bartholomew I signed the "Tomos" -- a decree of independence -- in Istanbul, according to the Greek Reporter website.
The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has now completed the actions needed for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to be formally recognized as independent from the Russian Orthodox Church.
The two churches had been one and the same since 1686. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has elected Metropolitan Epiphanius to lead it.
The move to separate the churches was fueled by recent Russian aggression in Ukraine, including Russia's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea.
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