Eastern Orthodox Church Schism - Again?

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Leaders within the Constantinople Patriarchate, historically the most influential center of the global Orthodox Church, recently took several administrative steps to grant ecclesiastical independence “autocephaly” to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

   

The Russian Orthodox Church is among the most influential churches in the Orthodox world. Its 150 million adherents comprise about half of Orthodox Churches worldwide. Since the collapse of the (officially atheistic) Soviet Union in the 1990s, it’s also become increasingly powerful politically. In recent years, the Russian Orthodox Church’s alliance with Vladimir Putin’s nationalist government has essentially rendered it a form of Russian ideological “soft power” with the church and its head, Patriarch Kirill, often serving as a mouthpiece for Russian nationalist ideology.

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A standalone Ukrainian Church would also effectively check Putin’s efforts to establish Russia as a “third Rome”: the heart of a religiously and ethnically united Christian empire, heir to Rome and Constantinople. He has mandated, for example, that state officials read Russian religious philosophers like Nikolai Berdyaev and Ivan Ilyin, two thinkers known for their support of a united Christian Russian empire. He’s also staged photos for himself at centers of Orthodox Christianity, like Mount Athos in Greece, where the Russian media breathlessly, if slightly inaccurately, reported that he sat upon the traditional throne of Byzantine emperors. (The historic chair in question was, in fact, designed for honored guests.)

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Some believe the city of Kiev to be the birthplace of the Russian Orthodox tradition. Ukrainians comprise up to 40 percent of the current Russian Orthodox Church and tend to attend services at double the rates of their Russian neighbors. For Ukrainians, the promise of autocephaly represents both spiritual and symbolic freedom from Russian influence. The Ukrainian Church has been subject to the Russian Church since 1686, a few decades after the territory came under Russian political control. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko recently told reporters that an autocephalous Ukrainian church was “an issue of Ukrainian national security. It’s an issue of Ukrainian statehood.”

A standalone Ukrainian Church would also effectively check Putin’s efforts to establish Russia as a “third Rome”: the heart of a religiously and ethnically united Christian empire, heir to Rome and Constantinople. He has mandated, for example, that state officials read Russian religious philosophers like Nikolai Berdyaev and Ivan Ilyin, two thinkers known for their support of a united Christian Russian empire. He’s also staged photos for himself at centers of Orthodox Christianity, like Mount Athos in Greece, where the Russian media breathlessly, if slightly inaccurately, reported that he sat upon the traditional throne of Byzantine emperors.

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If the Russian Orthodox Church ends up schisming from Constantinople, it would represent the most significant break in the Eastern Church since 1054 AD. The current crisis over the Ukrainian Church is the most significant in 1,000 years. The modern conflict over Ukrainian autocephaly is, like the 1054 schism, as much about territory and influence as it is about theology, if not more so.

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The Patriarch of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, due to his “first among equals” status, can render the Ukrainian Church autocephalous without Russia’s approval. Patriarch Bartholomew has taken steps to grant the Ukrainian Church independence, including revoking the 1686 decree giving Moscow power over Kiev, but he has not yet.

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The crisis over the status of the Ukrainian Church isn’t the first time the promise of a former Russian territory’s autonomy has threatened Russia-Constantinople relations. In 1996, the Russian Orthodox Church briefly severed ties with Constantinople over the fate of the Estonian Church, which likewise sought independence. (Ultimately, a compromise was reached, and two parallel churches — one under Moscow, one autocephalous — now exist in that country.) However, the controversy over Ukraine is much more politically significant, both because the country is much larger and because of the way the conflict reflects wider Russia-Ukraine territorial tensions.

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It is unclear whether Russia will reemphasize its position. While Russia has called for the support of the 12 remaining Orthodox national churches against Constantinople, it has not asked them to break with Constantinople directly. Already, however, the Serbian Church — a longtime Russian ally — has signaled its support for Russia. Thus far, its consequences remain to be seen.

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From Jew to Eastern Orthodox to Roman Catholic