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What the Moscow–Constantinople split meant for Ukraine
Summary
A look back at the Russian Orthodox Church's announcement of 15 October 2018 and its place in the Russia–Ukraine rift.
What did it mean when the Russian Orthodox Church said it would break communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople? On 16 October 2018, a day after the announcement, the question was already central to how Ukraine and Russia were seen to be drifting apart.
The announcement came on 15 October 2018. It was a response to plans by Eastern Orthodox Church officials to recognise the autocephaly of two Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. Moscow said it hoped Constantinople would change its mind and so avoid a schism.
The step added a religious dimension to the rift between Russia and Ukraine. The dispute was no longer only about politics and security; it now involved the structure of Orthodox Christianity itself, with Constantinople on one side and Moscow on the other.
The same day brought a sombre note from the military sphere. During the international exercise Clear Sky 2018 in the Vinnytsia region, a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27UB crashed. Two pilots died: one a serviceman of the Ukrainian armed forces, the other from the US Air National Guard.
Together, the two events marked 15 October 2018 as a day of loss and of widening division.
