KOLYMVARI (Crete) (Sputnik) – Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has reportedly asked the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church to make the Ukrainian Church independent from Moscow's Patriarch Kirill.
"We have heard about this from the press. It was several days ago. We are in Crete right now so I cannot tell if an official request has already reached the Patriarchate. But as soon as the issue is brought up officially, the Ecumenical Patriarch [Bartholomew I] will look into it," Archbishop Job of Telmessos said.
He said a change in the Ukrainian Church’s status is a complicated issue that will be considered by Bartholomew’s Synod.