Utrikespolitiska institutet

Ukraine's spiritual split from Russia

Martin Kragh, Head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at UI.

Cyril Hovorun, Karina Shyrokykh, Per-Arne Bodin and Martin Kragh held a roundtable discussion on how the relationship between Ukraine and Russia will develop after Ukraine´s spiritual slit from Russia.

On 11 October, 2018, the Orthodox Church´s Istanbul-based leader Patriarch Bartholomew granted Ukraine´s Church independence from the Moscow Patriarchate. Early this year, the newly formed independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church was formally given autonomous status. The split has several important implications. The Ukrainian church has been under the jurisdiction of the Moscow patriarchate since 1686, and its independence is a heavy blow to Moscow’s standing. The Russian church, which currently has about 150 million Orthodox Christians under its authority, is set to lose a fifth of its members. The biggest rift in Christianity in centuries is expected to heighten also geopolitical tensions in the region, and further widen the gulf between Russia and Ukraine.

Speakers: Cyril Hovorun, Orthodox priest, a postdoctoral research fellow at Loyola Marymount University and a senior lecturer at Sankt Ignatios Academy/Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm. Karina Shyrokykh, Social Science Researcher and an associate research fellow at UI. Per-Arne Bodin, author and Professor of Slavic languages.

The seminar was moderated by Martin Kragh, Head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at UI.