Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gestures while speaking at a closed-door synod of three Ukrainian Orthodox churches to approve the charter for a unified church and to elect leadership in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. The leader of the new autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be Metropolitan Epiphanius, a 39-year-old bishop from the Kiev Patriarchate. Representatives of Ukraine’s three Orthodox Churches attended the synod, but only two from the branch loyal to Moscow showed up. ___1 p.m.Thousands of people have gathered outside a Kiev cathedral to witness the birth of a new Ukrainian Orthodox Church as tensions between Ukraine and Russia continue to drive the two farther apart. Istanbul, the center of the Orthodox world, has signed off on Ukraine’s bid to create an independent church, despite fierce protests from Moscow.

Source: Washington Post December 15, 2018 16:30 UTC