Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the leader, handed Tomos of Autocephaly containing decree of independence to the newly appointed Metropolitan Epiphanius of Ukraine, cleaving millions of Ukrainians from Russian Orthodox Church.. Ukrainian church had been under Moscow's jurisdiction since 1686,..…

Analysts at the United Nations warned that the Supreme Court ruling signaled a “dark future” for religious freedom in Russia. . . Patriarch Kirill, the head of the powerful Russian Orthodox Church, has not commented on the crackdown, but senior officials in the church, a key Kremlin..…