Bishops of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church convened on Sunday at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Savior in Moscow, under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, with the focus of the session being last week’s decision by the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate – under Metropolitan Onoufriy, to declare autonomy from the Russian Church.
A later announcement by the Moscow Patriarchate’s Holy Synod called on the faithful to “…pray fervently for the strengthening of our brothers in Ukraine, to give them fortitude and the help of God in the daily struggle for Christian testimony”.