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==History==
In wake of the break up of the Russian Empire some national groups sought autonomy or autocephaly from Moscow. In 1921 an All-Ukraine Ukrainian Sobor (Synod) was called in KievKyiv, the Capital capital of the newly minted country of -independent Ukraine, and the delegation created the '''Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church''' ('''UAOC''') was declared independent from the Moscow Patriarchate (MP). Because of the actions of the Sobor, the The Sobor delegates had ordained chose Metropolitan Vasyl (Lypkivsky) as head of the Churchchurch. The UAOC was at that point independent of all other churches, and it claimed to haveobtained its autocephalous status a A few years later in 1924 when , Gregory VII, Patriarch of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch, issued a tomos re-establishing the Kievan Kyivan Metropoliaas an autocephalous entity. The responsibility of establishing a new Synod of Bishops was given to the Metropolitan-Archbishop of Warsaw, Dionisij WaledynskyjValedynskyj.
During World War II, the Orthodox and Ukrainians were not being persecuted due to the war enjoyed somewhat increased freedom under German occupation. (Ukraine was a battleground between the German and Soviet ArmysArmies). In May of 1942, with the blessing of Metropolitan Dionsiy, more than a dozen bishops were consecrated in St. Andrew Cathedral, Kyiv, in fulfillment of the 1924 tomos of the EP. Finally, it seemed that ecclesiastical order could be established for the UAOC. This time is referred to as the "second resurrection" of the church. However, history would make it a short lived reality. On October 8, 1942 Archbishop Nikanor and [[Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) of Kiev|Bishop Mstyslav]] of the [[UAOC]] and Metropolitan Oleksiy (Hromadsky) of the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church entered into an Act of Union at the Pochayiv (Pochaev) Lavra uniting these two church hierarchies. German occupation authorities and pro-Russian hierarchs of the Autonomous Church convinced Metropolitan Oleksiy to withdraw his signature. Metropolitan Oleksiy was executed in Volynia on May 7, 1943 by UPA ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Insurgent_Army Ukrainian Insurgent Army]) insurgents.
The Russian Orthodox Church regained its general monopoly after World War II in the Ukrainian SSR. Most of the other churches were liquidated, as the Soviet government only recognized the Moscow Patriarchate (MP). The MP was revived at the time of the Russian Revolution, as the only legitimate church in most of the Soviet Union. Many accused it of being a puppet of the Communist Party. After the suspicious death of Patriarch [[Tikhon of Moscow]] some churches sought to remain independent of Moscow; something that was tolerated until after World War II. In the post-war years, many Ukrainian Orthodox clergy not affiliated with Moscow fled to Germany or the United States. The UAOC in [[Ukraine]] was then liquidated by the Soviets with the assistance of the Moscow Patriarchate. Any UAOC hierarchs or clergy who remained in Ukraine and refused to join the Russian Church were executed or sent to concentration camps. A few years later the same thing happened to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Western Ukraine (Galicia) and Transcarpathia.
