Russian Orthodox Church

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has suspended a Russian priest who led a memorial service for Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Ukraine said Saturday it had filed criminal charges against Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, in absentia for "justifying" Russia's invasion.

The Russian missile strikes that killed at least one and injured many have destroyed a famous Orthodox cathedral in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, reported CNN.

"Sanctions have been imposed against 22 Russian citizens who, under the guise of spirituality, support terror and genocidal policy," President Zelensky said in his nightly address late on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday attended an Orthodox Church Christmas service by himself inside a Kremlin cathedral rather than joining other worshippers in a public celebration.

Ukraine's top security officials have ordered punitive measures against seven senior clerics, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, part of a crackdown on a branch of the Orthodox Church with longstanding ties to Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian artillery hit an early 17th century Ukrainian Orthodox monastery in war-torn eastern Ukraine on Saturday, engulfing its main church in flames.

Russian troops were approaching the strategic city of Severodonetsk on Friday in a relentless offensive to control Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, as the war triggered a historic schism in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's Moscow branch.

As war rages across Ukraine, Mykhaylo Tereshchenko, the priest of Moscow branch of Ukraine's Orthodox Church is locked in his own spiritual battle that risks tearing his parish apart.

The European Commission has proposed sanctioning the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, in the latest wave of economic measures against Russia.

Kirill said in Sunday sermon that countries which do not accept western values are not considered part of the world.

A Russian priest who flaunted luxury items including Louis Vuitton bags and Gucci shoes on his Instagram account will face a disciplinary committee, an Orthodox Church spokesman said.

A judge in Russia's fourth-largest city has convicted a blogger who played "Pokemon Go" in a renowned Orthodox cathedral of inciting religious hatred and insulting the feelings of believers, the state RIA-Novosti news agency reported Thursday.

Ruslan Sokolovsky, 22, faces up to seven years in prison over the YouTube video of him zapping Pokemon on a smartphone in a Russian Orthodox church.

A Russian court on Friday ordered a blogger to be held behind bars for three months pending trial for hunting Pokemon in church, after he broke rules of his house arrest.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has suspended a Russian priest who led a memorial service for Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Ukraine said Saturday it had filed criminal charges against Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, in absentia for "justifying" Russia's invasion.

The Russian missile strikes that killed at least one and injured many have destroyed a famous Orthodox cathedral in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, reported CNN.

"Sanctions have been imposed against 22 Russian citizens who, under the guise of spirituality, support terror and genocidal policy," President Zelensky said in his nightly address late on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday attended an Orthodox Church Christmas service by himself inside a Kremlin cathedral rather than joining other worshippers in a public celebration.

Ukraine's top security officials have ordered punitive measures against seven senior clerics, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, part of a crackdown on a branch of the Orthodox Church with longstanding ties to Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian artillery hit an early 17th century Ukrainian Orthodox monastery in war-torn eastern Ukraine on Saturday, engulfing its main church in flames.

Russian troops were approaching the strategic city of Severodonetsk on Friday in a relentless offensive to control Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, as the war triggered a historic schism in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's Moscow branch.

As war rages across Ukraine, Mykhaylo Tereshchenko, the priest of Moscow branch of Ukraine's Orthodox Church is locked in his own spiritual battle that risks tearing his parish apart.

The European Commission has proposed sanctioning the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, in the latest wave of economic measures against Russia.

Kirill said in Sunday sermon that countries which do not accept western values are not considered part of the world.

A Russian priest who flaunted luxury items including Louis Vuitton bags and Gucci shoes on his Instagram account will face a disciplinary committee, an Orthodox Church spokesman said.

A judge in Russia's fourth-largest city has convicted a blogger who played "Pokemon Go" in a renowned Orthodox cathedral of inciting religious hatred and insulting the feelings of believers, the state RIA-Novosti news agency reported Thursday.

Ruslan Sokolovsky, 22, faces up to seven years in prison over the YouTube video of him zapping Pokemon on a smartphone in a Russian Orthodox church.

A Russian court on Friday ordered a blogger to be held behind bars for three months pending trial for hunting Pokemon in church, after he broke rules of his house arrest.