Autocephaly for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
The Ecumenical Patriarch grants independence to a newly united Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and the Russian Orthodox Church breaks communion with Constantinople in protest.
- Historic unification of Ukrainian Orthodox Church — Tadeusz A. Olszański, OSW Commentary, Centre for Eastern Studies (2018)
- A Tomos for Ukraine's Orthodox Church: the Final Schism? — James Sherr, International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) (2019)
- The Orthodox Church in Ukraine: A Century of Separation — Nicholas E. Denysenko, Northern Illinois University Press (2018)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Religiosity, confessional affiliation and inter-church relations in Ukrainian society (November 2025) — Razumkov Centre Sociological Service, Razumkov Centre (2025)
- Religious self-identification of the population of Ukraine: dynamics and importance of question formulation (survey of 19 September – 5 October 2025) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
Since independence in 1991, Ukraine had several rival Orthodox churches: the largest, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, belonged to the Moscow Patriarchate, while the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church were recognised by no other Orthodox church. After Russia seized Crimea and backed the war in Donbas in 2014, pressure grew for a single independent church.
- The Orthodox Church in Ukraine: A Century of Separation — Nicholas E. Denysenko, Northern Illinois University Press (2018)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
In October 2018 the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul announced it would grant autocephaly; the Russian Orthodox Church responded by breaking communion with Constantinople. On 15 December 2018 a unification council in Kyiv created the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and elected Metropolitan Epiphanius, and on 6 January 2019 Patriarch Bartholomew handed over the tomos of autocephaly.
- Historic unification of Ukrainian Orthodox Church — Tadeusz A. Olszański, OSW Commentary, Centre for Eastern Studies (2018)
- A Tomos for Ukraine's Orthodox Church: the Final Schism? — James Sherr, International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) (2019)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
After Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the Moscow-linked church in Ukraine declared its “full independence” from Moscow, though critics doubted the break was real, and in 2024 Ukraine passed a law to ban religious organisations tied to the Russian church. Surveys show identification with the Moscow-linked church collapsing while the OCU has grown.
- Religiosity, confessional affiliation and inter-church relations in Ukrainian society (November 2025) — Razumkov Centre Sociological Service, Razumkov Centre (2025)
- Religious self-identification of the population of Ukraine: dynamics and importance of question formulation (survey of 19 September – 5 October 2025) — Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) (2025)
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
An independent nation deserves an independent church, as Greece, Serbia and Romania received. Moscow's control of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, dating from 1686, was imposed, and the Moscow-linked church's ties to the Kremlin became a security threat once Russia went to war.
- The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History — Serhii Plokhy, W. W. Norton (2023)
- Historic unification of Ukrainian Orthodox Church — Tadeusz A. Olszański, OSW Commentary, Centre for Eastern Studies (2018)
- The Orthodox Church in Ukraine: A Century of Separation — Nicholas E. Denysenko, Northern Illinois University Press (2018)
Kyiv has belonged to the Moscow Patriarchate's canonical territory for over three centuries, and Constantinople had no right to intervene or to legitimise clergy Moscow regarded as schismatic. The tomos was a political act backed by the Ukrainian government and Western powers.
- A Tomos for Ukraine's Orthodox Church: the Final Schism? — James Sherr, International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) (2019)
- The Orthodox Church in Ukraine: A Century of Separation — Nicholas E. Denysenko, Northern Illinois University Press (2018)
As "first among equals", Constantinople has the right to hear appeals and grant autocephaly, as it did for the Balkan churches. The 1686 transfer of Kyiv to Moscow was conditional and never meant to be permanent.
- A Tomos for Ukraine's Orthodox Church: the Final Schism? — James Sherr, International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) (2019)
- Historic unification of Ukrainian Orthodox Church — Tadeusz A. Olszański, OSW Commentary, Centre for Eastern Studies (2018)
Why it matters today
The dispute split the Orthodox world. Moscow does not recognise the new church and cut ties with Constantinople and the churches that recognised it, while Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 drove millions of Ukrainians away from the Moscow-linked church. Few subjects are more sensitive among Orthodox Christians today.