Russia takes Ukraine's Berdyansk Diocese under its jurisdiction

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The supreme governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church, Holy Synod ruled on Tuesday to take under its jurisdiction the Berdyansk Diocese of the Zaporizhzhia region of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

On May 11, the clergymen of the Berdyansk and Prymorsk Diocese addressed the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, asking him to take the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church after its head Metropolitan Efrem left his congregation.

The Holy Synod said in a statement, it satisfied the request due to "lack of possibility to settle the situation in the Berdyansk Diocese in any other way."

The issue will be later considered by the Bishops' Council, it said.