When on Jan. 6 the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) finally received the Tomos of autocephaly from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, securing a legitimate independence from Moscow, it faced many challenges. Internal unity was a major one, as the new church molded together representatives of three hitherto separate churches. International recognition was another one, as the powerful Moscow Patriarchate was predicted to use all its might to fight against this weakening of its ideological grip over Ukraine. Internal church reform and coming up to date was a third.
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Alya Shandra: Honeymoon over for Orthodox Church of Ukraine
President Petro Poroshenko (R) speaks while standing next to prominent leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Filaret (C) and Bishop of Zhytomyr Ovruch Payisiy, after a church service in St. Mykhailo Cathedral in Zhytomyr on Jan. 17, 2019.
