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Ukrainian Orthodox Church Breaks Free from Putin and Russia for 'Spiritual Independence'

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Ukrainian Orthodox leaders have approved the creation of a unified church that would be independent of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow.

Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, said it will be a church that is free from the influence of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirrill.

Poroshenko stressed that Ukraine had seized "spiritual independence, which can be likened to political independence."

However, CBN News' Dale Hurd predicts the decision could raise tensions further with Russia.

"It's not so much about faith; it's about religion and how that's intertwined in the eastern Orthodox world with patriotism," he explained, "especially in Russia which wanted to think of itself as sort of reviving the Russian empire and the Russian Orthodox Church would be like Rome, the center of Orthodox belief in the Orthodox world."

"That's all been shattered now by Ukraine doing this," he concluded.

Click on the video above to hear more analysis from Dale Hurd on what this move means for Ukraine, Russia, and the world.

 

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