Russian Orthodox Church

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Scrap metal, heavy church bell stolen from demolition site

Associated Press

Riot police stand next to demonstrators gather in front of a newly built fence blocked by police, during a protest against plans to construct a cathedral in a park with the Church on the Blood, a cathedral erected on a place where the last czar, his wife Alexandra and their five children were executed in 1918, in Ural Mountain city of Yekaterinburg, background, in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, May 15, 2019. Hundreds of riot police have surrounded a park in Russia's fourth-largest city before what's expected to be a third consecutive day of protests against building a new cathedral. (AP Photo/Anton Basanayev)

Putin calls for compromise over Orthodox cathedral standoff

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and NATALIYA VASILYEVA - Associated Press

Metropolitan Epiphanius, newly elected head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, conducts a service during his enthronement in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Epiphanius has been elected to head the new Ukrainian church independent from the Russian Orthodox Church. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Head of Ukraine’s new Orthodox Church assumes office

Associated Press

Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, center, crosses herself during the service marking Orthodox Christmas and celebrating independence of Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukraine OKs property law that could affect 12,000 churches

Associated Press

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, center left, and Metropolitan Epiphanius, the head of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, center right, attend a religion service at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Istanbul, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019. An independent Ukrainian Orthodox church has been created at a signing ceremony in Turkey, formalizing a split with the Russian church it had been tied to since 1686. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Independence decree presented to Ukrainian Orthodox bishop

By ZEYNEP BILGINSOY and JIM HEINTZ - Associated Press

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speak to soldiers during a visit to a military base in Chernihiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Nov, 28, 2018. Russia and Ukraine traded blame after Russian border guards on Sunday opened fire on three Ukrainian navy vessels and eventually seized them and their crews. The incident put the two countries on war footing and raised international concern. (Mykola Lazarenko, Presidential Press Service via AP)

The Latest: Russian cleric: Ukraine raid on home ‘political’

Associated Press

Ukrainian soldiers drive APCs near Urzuf, south coast of Azov sea, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. Ukraine put its military forces on high combat alert and announced martial law this week after Russian border guards fired on and seized three Ukrainian ships in the Black Sea. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukraine bars entry to Russian males, upping ante in conflict

By Yuras Karmanau and Nataliya Vasilyeva - Associated Press

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gestures during a parliament session in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Nov. 26, 2018. Ukraine's president on Monday urged parliament to impose martial law in the country to fight &quot;growing aggression from Russia,&quot; after a weekend naval confrontation off the disputed Crimean Peninsula in which Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian vessels amid renewed tensions between the neighbors. (Mykola Lazarenko, Presidential Press Service via AP)

President: Ukrainian Orthodox church will get independence

Associated Press

FILE - In this file photo taken on Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, centre, is introduced to officials by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, right, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, prior to their meeting at the Patriarchate in Istanbul. The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate says it will move forward with its decision to grant Ukrainian clerics independence from the Russian Orthodox Church. The decision was announced Thursday, Oct. 11 following a regular holy synod meeting. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, file)

Orthodox Church to move forward with Ukrainian independence

By YURAS KARMANU - Associated Press

In this handout photo released by Russian Orthodox Church Press Service, Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill presides over a meeting of the church's Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. The meeting of the Russian Orthodox Church's top hierarchs mulled a response to a decision by Orthodox Christianity's leading body to send two envoys to Ukraine. (Sergey Vlasov, Russian Orthodox Church Press Service via AP)

Russian Orthodox Church debates strategy on Ukraine

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV - Associated Press

Russian Orthodox church rejects decision on Ukraine envoys

Associated Press

FILE - In this Sunday, April 8, 2018 file photo, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest blesses worshippers as they collect traditional cakes and painted eggs for an Easter celebration at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the Monastery of the Caves, in Kiev, Ukraine. Ukraine is lobbying hard for a religious divorce from Russia and some observers say the issue could be decided as soon as September 2018. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

Moscow, Kiev in tug-of-war over religious future of Ukraine

By RAPHAEL SATTER - Associated Press

FILE - In this Tuesday, June 13, 2017 file photo, a woman holds an official poster of Russian film director Alexei Uchitel's film 'Matilda' at a news conference in Moscow, Russia. Russian police has detained four people suspected of an arson attack linked to a controversial movie about the Russian last czar’s love affair, it was announced on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. The movie, “Matilda”, which is set to be released in October, has sparked harsh criticism from hard-line nationalists and some Orthodox believers in Russia. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, file)

4 detained in probe linked to film on Russian czar’s affair

Associated Press

A woman holds an official poster of "Matilda," a film focusing on on Czar Nicholas II's romantic affair with ballet dancer Matilda Kshesinskaya. The film has aroused controversy in Russia. (Associated Press/File)

‘Matilda’ movie in Russia brings religious extremist violence

By Marc Bennetts - Special to The Washington Times

In this photo taken on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017, an Orthodox protester holds up a sign reading &quot;Stop Matilda&quot; during a protest against the release of a movie depicting a liaison of Russia's last czar in Moscow, Russia. Russia's Culture Ministry says that a controversial historical film about the last Russian czar's affair with a ballerina has been cleared for release. &quot;Matilda,&quot; which is about Nicholas II's relationship with Matilda Kshesinskaya, has drawn virulent criticism from some Orthodox believers and hard-line nationalists, who see it as blasphemy against the emperor, glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Controversial film about Russian czar cleared for release

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV - Associated Press

In this photo taken on Friday, May 26, 2017, Russian Orthodox believers line up to kiss the relics of Saint Nicholas that were brought from an Italian church where they have lain for 930 years, in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. Over a million people have visited relics of Saint Nicholas, one of the Russian Orthodox Church's most revered figures, since they were brought to Moscow last month. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

In Moscow, 1 million people visit relics of popular saint

Associated Press

Russian Orthodox believers gather to kiss the relics of Saint Nicholas in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 21, 2017. Relics of Saint Nicholas, one of the Russian Orthodox Church's most revered figures, arrived in Moscow on Sunday from an Italian church where they have lain for 930 years. An icon of of Saint Nicholas in in the center. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Ark bearing popular Saint Nicholas’ relics come to Moscow

By JIM HEINTZ - Associated Press

Orthodox priests and believers attend a Cross Walk around the St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. St. Petersburg Orthodox eparchy held a cross procession around the city's St. Isaac's Cathedral to support the plans on the cathedral's handover to the Russian Orthodox Church. Currently the Cathedral has a museum status. The cross procession gathered around 1000 people. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Protests mark cathedral’s return to Russian Orthodox control

By IRINA TITOVA - Associated Press

Protesters against the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church hold letters reading 'The museum!' standing inside the St. Isaac's Cathedral in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017. Over 2,000 people rallied in St. Petersburg on Saturday to protest plans by the city authorities to give a landmark cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church amid an increasingly passionate debate over the relationship between the church and state. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Protesters in St. Petersburg decry handover of cathedral

By IRINA TITOVA - Associated Press

FILE - This is a Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017 file photo of an aerial view of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Hermitage Museum Director Mikhail Piotrovsky has urged the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in a letter Wednesday Jan. 25 2017, to recall its bid for a landmark St. Petersburg cathedral. Several hundred people have rallied outside the iconic St. Isaac's Cathedral earlier this month, fearing that its transferal from the city to the church may inhibit public access. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File)

Museum head defies Russian Orthodox Church over cathedral

By IRINA TITOVA - Associated Press