By The Associated Press, The New York Times
The Russian Orthodox Church has cut ties
with the head of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate in Alexandria
following his decision to recognize Ukraine’s new independent Orthodox
Church.
The Russian church’s Holy
Synod ruled late Thursday to rupture all links with Patriarch Theodore
II of Alexandria and All Africa.
It noted, however, that it will remain in communion with those clerics of his church who didn’t support the decision.
The Holy Synod also decided that its parishes in Africa will be
removed from the Patriarchate of Alexandria’s jurisdiction and made
directly subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church’s head, Patriarch
Kirill.
The move follows January’s decision by
Constantinople Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who is considered
first among equals in Orthodox patriarchy, to grant independence to the
new Orthodox Church of Ukraine, severing its centuries-long ties with
the Russian Orthodox Church.
Many Ukrainians had resented the status of the Moscow-affiliated
church. The push for a full-fledged Ukrainian church intensified amid a
tug-of-war between the two ex-Soviet neighbors that followed Moscow’s
2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and its support for a separatist
insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
The Constantinople Patriarch’s move
angered the Russian Orthodox Church, which cut ties with the
Istanbul-based Patriarchate. The decision to grant independence to
Ukraine’s church has split the Orthodox world, with some churches
supporting it and others criticizing the move.
The
Eastern Orthodox Church in Africa represents a small fraction of
Egypt’s Orthodox Christians, the majority of whom belong to the Coptic
Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
The Coptic church’s followers are believed to constitute ten percent
of Egypt’s 100 million population. The official spokesman of the
Coptic Church Paul Halim told The Associated Press on Friday that his
church never discussed whether to recognize the Ukraine’s church and
that the Coptic Pope Tawadros II maintains “excellent relations” with
the Russian Orthodox Church.
Several European and Egyptian media outlets had mistakenly reported
that the Russian Orthodox Church severed ties with the Coptic Pope.