Ukrainian Orthodox Church

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FILE - The Monastery of the Caves, also known as Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of the holiest sites of Eastern Orthodox Christians, is seen on March 23, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukraine's parliament overwhelmingly voted Thursday, Oct. 19, to advance legislation seen as effectively banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its ties to Moscow, despite the church's insistence that it is fully independent and supportive of Ukraine's fight against Russian invaders. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

Ukraine’s parliament advances bill seen as targeting Orthodox church with historic ties to Moscow

By Peter Smith - Associated Press

Metropolitan Epiphanius, center right, and priests deliver an Orthodox Christmas service inside the nearly 1,000-year-old Pechersk Lavra Cathedral of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. Hundreds of Ukrainians heard the Orthodox Christmas service in the Ukrainian language for the first time at Kyiv’s 1,000-year-old Lavra Cathedral on Orthodox Christmas Day, a demonstration of independence from the Russian orthodox church. (AP Photo/Roman Hrytsyna)

Ukrainians celebrate Orthodox Christmas in reclaimed church

By Hanna Arhirova - Associated Press

Ukrainian priests holding a service before the start of the Orthodox Chrismas in the St. Michael's Monastery of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered Moscow's armed forces to observe a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine this weekend for the Russian Orthodox Christmas holiday, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy questioned the Kremlin's intentions, accusing the Kremlin of planning the fighting pause "to continue the war with renewed vigor". (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)

Ukraine reclaims Kyiv cathedral amid church dispute

Associated Press

Metropolitan Oleksandr delivers a religious service with clerics inside the Transfiguration of Jesus Orthodox Cathedral during blackout caused by recent Russian rocket attacks, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022. A top Orthodox priest in Ukraine's capital says he supports the efforts of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government and counter-intelligence agency to end Russian spying and meddling in Ukrainian politics through a Moscow-affiliated church. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Scrutiny of Ukraine church draws praise, fear of overreach

By Peter Smith and Vasilisa Stepanenko - Associated Press

In this file photo from Nov. 4, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, left, walk to lay flowers at the monument of Minin and Pozharsky at Red Square in Moscow, during National Unity Day. The Russian Church said on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, that Patriarch Kirill has sent a letter to the U.N. secretary-general, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury and other spiritual leaders, urging them to help protect the clerics, believers and their faith in Ukraine. (Alexander Nemenov/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Moscow-aligned Ukrainian Orthodox clerics call for tribunal for Patriarch Kirill, key Putin ally

By Mark A. Kellner - The Washington Times

The head of Cyprus Orthodox Church Archbishop Chrysostomos II, facing, presides over a meeting of other bishops composing the Holy Synod, the Church's highest decision-making body at the Church's headquarters in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. The Holy Synod convened to discuss issues relating to the Cyprus Church's position on the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus Orthodox Church backs Ukrainian Church’s independence

Associated Press

Cyprus Orthodox Church backs Ukrainian church’s independence

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

Metropolitan Epiphanius, the head of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, center, arrives to attend a meeting to sign &quot;Tomos&quot; decree of autocephaly for Ukrainian church at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Ukrainian Orthodox Church breaks away from Russian influence

By AYSE WIETING and ZEYNEP BILGINSOY - Associated Press

An Orthodox believer kisses the hand of a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchy during a protest against the creation of a Ukrainian independent church, in front of the parliament building in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Orthodox believers rally to protest Ukraine parliament vote

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

Attackers target church in Ukraine amid religious split

Associated Press

Archbishop Ilarion of Edmonton from Canada, center, hands over a message from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko while Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon from the United States, right, watches during their meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has appointed two exarchs in Kiev for the framework of the preparations for the granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. (Mikhail Palinchak/Presidential Press Service Pool Photo via AP)

Orthodox envoys meet with Ukraine’s president

Associated Press

FILE - In this May 4, 2004 file photo, a full moon rises above the golden domes of the Orthodox 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/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

Ungodly espionage: Russian hackers targeted Orthodox clergy

By RAPHAEL SATTER - Associated Press

A women light candles in a church as she prays for peace in eastern Ukraine in St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kiev, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015. Leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany on Thursday emerged from marathon 16-hour talks to announce a comprehensive peace deal for eastern Ukraine, but questions remained whether Ukraine and the pro-Russian rebels have agreed on all of its terms. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

The war in Ukraine: a failure to evangelize?

By Sofia Kochmar - Catholic News Agency

Since Russia's annexation of Crimea in March, religious groups there are facing persecution and restrictions on their ministry. Catholics, Ukrainian Orthodox of the Kyiv Patriarchate and Muslims are all facing persecution from local authorities, and anticipate that they may have to go underground in January, when laws change. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Muslims, Christians face new crackdown in Crimea

By Sofia Kochmar - Catholic News Agency