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Orthodox Church of Ukraine

Eastern Orthodox · 2018 · Ukraine

Ukraine's autocephalous church, formed by the 2018 unification council under Constantinople's auspices amid the Russo-Ukrainian conflict; recognized by some autocephalous churches, rejected by Moscow, with the UOC-MP continuing in parallel — live history, stated from both sides without adjudication.

Orthodox Church of Ukraine was formed in 2018. Orthodox Church of Ukraine continues today. Orthodox Church of Ukraine's institutional line runs back through Russian Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Orthodox Church of Ukraine stand 2 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 2018
Family
Eastern Orthodox
Region
Ukraine
Key figures
Filaret (Denysenko)
Cause tags
Politics, Governance, Geography
Also known as
OCU

What it separated from

On the tree

Orthodox Church of Ukraine and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday10042443145198810542018The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxRussian Orthodox Church (Eastern Orthodox)Russian Orthodox ChurchEastern OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredOrthodox Church of Ukraine (Eastern Orthodox)Orthodox Church ofUkraineEastern Orthodox

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

The event

Ukrainian autocephaly and the Moscow–Constantinople break, 2018

Constantinople's synod (Oct 9–11, 2018) moved to grant Ukrainian autocephaly, revoked the 1686 transfer of the Kyiv metropolia to Moscow, and lifted the anathemas on the leaders of the two unrecognized Ukrainian churches; the ROC synod at Minsk severed full communion with Constantinople on October 15, 2018. The unification council at St Sophia's, Kyiv (December 15, 2018) formed the OCU, and the Ecumenical Patriarch signed the tomos January 5–6, 2019. Moscow holds the council uncanonical and the OCU schismatic; Constantinople holds Kyiv its restored canonical territory; recognitions divide the communion (Greece, Alexandria, Cyprus recognizing; Moscow severing with each). Both continuations render equally; directional facts live here.

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31. This is live history; a recheck is pending before first publication.