There are fears that, with a full-blown dispute between Church authorities, congregations could be shut out of certain churches.<\/p>\n
President Poroshenko accuses the Kremlin of trying to foment a religious war, and he has warned that Russian agents could try to seize church property.<\/p>\n
The Moscow Patriarchate says its worshippers should no longer attend any services conducted by clergy loyal to Constantinople. From now on it will also boycott joint Orthodox Church ceremonies.<\/p>\n
Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin would defend “the interests of Russians and Russian speakers and the interests of the Orthodox”, but only by using “political and diplomatic measures”.<\/p>\n
Russia also said it had to protect ethnic Russians ahead of its military intervention in Ukraine in 2014.<\/p>\n
So there is potential for serious conflict, not least because Ukraine’s Orthodox believers are divided among three Churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), the Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the small Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC).<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n (BBC) #OrthodoxChurch<\/a> split: Five reasons why it matters https:\/\/t.co\/5qND34Qyyx<\/a> #constantinople<\/a> #russia<\/a> #ukraine<\/a> #religion<\/a> #history<\/a> #europe<\/a> #christianity<\/a><\/p>\n — Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) October 17, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n