Ukraine's Newly Independent Church Blessed In Istanbul
- By Reuters
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has handed over a "tomos" of autocephaly to Metropolitan Epifaniy of the new Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Bartholomew presented the document at a church service in Istanbul on January 6, after signing it during a ceremony the previous day. The historic document ends more than 330 years of Russian religious control in Ukraine.