KYIV, Ukraine — Packing a cathedral for Orthodox Christmas, hundreds of worshippers heard the service in that church in the Ukrainian language for the first time in decades, a demonstration of independence from the Russian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which remained loyal to the Moscow patriarch since the 17th century, declared independence from Moscow’s Patriarchate after Russia’s invasion …
Parts of the centuries-old Pechersk Lavra monastic complex in Kyiv, Ukraine, have been taken over by the state. The Ukrainian government has taken the main cathedral of a historic monastery in Kyiv from a denomination previously affiliated with the Russian Orthodox patriarchate and allowed its Ukrainian rival group to use it for Orthodox Christmas services. Ukrainian Minister of Culture Oleksandr …
