In 2018/19, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople initiated the establishment of an autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Church in Ukraine. This process was met with harsh criticism by the Russian Orthodox Church and eventually led to a split in the entire Orthodox world. The contributions to this volume examine this conflict and discuss the underlying causes for it in a broader perspective. They deal with several aspects of Orthodox theology, history, church life and culture, and show the existence of a serious rift in the broader Orthodox world. This became visible most recently in the conflict over the Ukrainian Church autocephaly, yet it has a longer, and more complex historical background.

Thomas Bremer teaches Ecumenical Theology and Eastern Christian Studies at the Department of Catholic Theology, University of Münster, Germany. His research interests include Orthodoxy in Ukraine, in Russia, and in the Balkans, interchurch relations, and the role of Churches in conflict situations. Alfons Brüning is a historian and scholar of religion, and is the director of the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. His expertise covers the religious history of Eastern Europe, confessionalism, nationalism, and modern social teaching of Orthodox Christianity. Nadieszda Kizenko is Professor of History and Director of Religious Studies at the State University of New York (Albany, USA). Her research focuses on Orthodox Church history in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, with special interests in confession, hagiography, and liturgy.