Moscow weighs up the consequences of Orthodox Church schism

Analysis: The developments look set to exacerbate divisions in Ukraine, says Oliver Carroll

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill holding a church service in Minsk on 14 October (AFP/Getty)

On Monday evening, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church resolved to break with the Patriarchate of Constantinople – setting the largest branch of Eastern Orthodoxy on a collision course with its spiritual centre.

The move was driven by a decision by Bartholomew I of Constantinople to remove barriers to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church gaining autocephaly (independence) from Moscow. A spokesman for the Russian church had called the decision “lawless”, an “intrusion into [its] canonical territory”, and one that “liquidated” Constantinople as the centre of Eastern Orthodoxy.

That, at least, was the detail. The broader context is the complete breakdown in relations between Moscow and Kiev – and a four-year war that has left more than 10,000 people dead.