Eastern Orthodox Church Leader Travels To Kyiv For Ukrainian Independence Festivities

Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, traveled from Istanbul to the Ukrainian capital to attend festivities marking the 30th anniversary of the country's independence from the Soviet Union. He led a liturgy at St. Michael's Monastery in central Kyiv on August 22 alongside Metropolitan Epiphanius, the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, whose independence was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2018.