Ukraine's Russian Orthodox Church Elects New Leader as Fighting Rages

Kiev: Ukraine's wing of the Russian Orthodox Church elected a pro-Russian conservative as its new leader on Wednesday, as Kiev appealed for the church to help unite the country being torn apart by a pro-Moscow insurgency.

Metropolitan Onufriy, 69, the former head of the church in Chernivtsi and Bukovyna in southwest Ukraine, succeeds Metropolitan Volodymyr, who died last month.

Ahead of the vote in Kiev, President Petro Poroshenko emphasised the "patriotic potential of the church" adding that the election took place "during the most difficult period in Ukraine's history as blood flows and we suffer from external aggression."

"In these circumstances the unifying role of the Church and its educational and patriotic potential are extremely important," he said in a statement.

Orthodox Christians make up the largest denomination in Ukraine but the faithful are split between two main Ukrainian Orthodox Churches -- one loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate and the other to the Kiev Patriarchate.

The Moscow-linked one is believed to be the largest, with more than 11,000 parishes, although it operates as a semi-autonomous Church that has resisted calls to return to the full jurisdiction of the Moscow patriarchate.

The new leader was chosen over two rounds of voting and also received the blessing of the Russian Patriarch Kirill, who has openly supported Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin.

The Russian church leader however chose to keep a low profile during the election, with a spokesman calling the decision "an internal affair" for its Ukrainian offshoot.

Volodymyr headed the Ukrainian wing of Russia's Orthodox church from 1992 until his death and was seen as an inclusive figure during the recent upheavals in the country.

Four months of fierce fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels have deepened the country's religious divide but Volodymyr was perceived to be steering a middle course and not simply toeing the line of the pro-Kremlin parent church in Moscow.

Onufriy is expected to stick to tradition and has not condemned Russia following Ukraine's accusations it is backing the separatists, said Lyudmila Fylypovych, an expert on Ukrainian religious studies.