A total of 43 percent of Orthodox believers in Russia are concerned over the Ukrainian church's secession, a fresh poll conducted by the Levada-Center analytic center showed on Monday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2018) A total of 43 percent of Orthodox believers in Russia are concerned over the Ukrainian church's secession, a fresh poll conducted by the Levada-Center analytic center showed on Monday.Asked about the Ukrainian church's independence from the Russian Orthodox Church, 18 percent of respondents expressed significant concern over the issue, while 25 percent said they were more likely concerned than not, a poll said. Fifty-three percent of the Russian believers did not see any problem in the Ukrainian church's move, while 5 percent failed to give a clear answer.
Russian citizens who are not Orthodox believers were shown to be less concerned over the Ukrainian church's autocephaly, with only 18 percent of them feeling this way.
Summing up the data, the pollster said that, in general, 36 percent of Russian citizens were concerned over the Ukrainian church's autocephaly, while 59 percent were indifferent to the issue.
The survey was conducted on November 22-28 among 1,600 Russian citizens aged over 18 years old in 136 settlements in 52 Russian regions.
In October, the Synod of the Constantinople Patriarchate announced that it would proceed to granting independence to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which was welcomed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who seeks to establish a single independent church in the country.
The Constantinople Patriarchate's decision prompted the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to completely "break the Eucharistic communion" with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Moscow Patriarchate called Constantinople's decision the "legalization of schism," saying that it would have catastrophic consequences and would affect millions of Christians in Ukraine and other countries. The Moscow-affiliated Ukrainian Orthodox Church said that the synod's decision was a hostile act that interfered with the Ukrainian church's affairs.
