Patriarch Filaret, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate, speaks during a news briefing in front of the Volodymysky Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine October 11, 2018. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
KIEV/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Ukraine secured approval on Thursday to establish an independent church in what Kiev says is a vital step against Russian meddling in its affairs, but the Russian clergy fiercely opposes the biggest split in Christianity for a thousand years.
At a three-day synod presided over by the Ecumenical Patriarch in Istanbul, seat of the global spiritual leader of roughly 300 million Orthodox Christians, endorsed Ukraine's request for an "autocephalous" (independent) church.
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