Eastern Orthodox Church

Russia's Orthodox Church said on Friday it would no longer participate in structures chaired by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, deepening a row in Orthodox Christianity over the Ukrainian Church's bid to break away from Moscow's orbit.

The Russian Orthodox Church on Sept. 14 cut "diplomatic ties" with Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, accusing him of encroaching on its religious territory in Ukraine.    

The Russian Patriarchate has openly disputed the first-among-equals status of the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate after the latter's decision to grant independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from Moscow.

The Russian Orthodox Church on Sept. 7 slammed its Istanbul-based rival for sending representatives to Ukraine and vowed to retaliate as the two churches are locked in negotiations over Ukraine's religious future.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate has begun preparations to grant independence to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine from Russia, it said Friday.

In a statement, the patriarchate named two representatives who will be dispatched to discuss the process of autocephaly of Kiev from Moscow.

As the battle hots up over whether a number of countries in the region should get their own Orthodox Churches, Serbian Patriarch Irinej has written to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople warning him about the danger of introducing the principle of giving ecclesiastical independence, or autocephaly, to new states or nations.

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios said on Friday that dialogue is the way to resolve problems after a reportedly fruitless meeting in Istanbul with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.

Patriarch Kirill of the Orthodox Church of Moscow visited Bartholomew I, the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church based in Istanbul, on Aug. 31 in an eleventh hour bid to prevent the Ukrainian church from being separated from Moscow.

The Russian hackers indicted by the US special prosecutor last month have spent years trying to steal the private correspondence of some of the world's most senior Christian Orthodox figures, The Associated Press has found, illustrating the high stakes as Kiev and Moscow wrestle over the religious future of Ukraine.

Archbishop Demetrios of America will reportedly attend on September 9 an event to honor the Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas, which was destroyed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack, when the south tower of the World Trade Center came crashing down upon it.