The influential Russian Orthodox Church on Monday evening announced that it was cutting ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, according to the TASS news agency, confirming the Moscow-based Church's extreme displeasure with recognition, by the latter, of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
According to a spokesman for the Russian Church, Metropolitan Ilarion, the holy synod of the former had "no other choice but to break relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople," using a portion of the Patriarchate's official title, with omitting the "Ecumenical".
