Politics, powers, and struggle over Ukraine's Orthodox church.
Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople may grant Ukraine its own church,and Moscow Patriarch Kirill is not happy about it.
The two dignitaries are also rivals locked in a struggle within the Orthodox world.
Ukraine's push for clerical independence from Russia is reaching its final stage. On August 31, Russian Patriarch Kirill personally traveled to Istanbul to visit the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew, presumably to urge Bartholomew not to grant Kyiv's request.
Kirill claims authority over Orthodox believers in Ukraine. However, Orthodox Christians in that country are currently divided between a semi-autonomous branch loyal to Moscow and Kirill, and the one lead by the unrecognized Ukrainian Patriarch Filaret. The fighting in east Ukraine aggravated the dispute and prompted Kyiv lawmakers to enter the fray. Both the lawmakers and the President Petro Poroshenko have recently urged Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to recognize the Kyiv branch.
To make things more complicated, Ukraine also has a third Orthodox Church, which cropped up in 1920s as a response to Soviet repression.
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