The Church of Greece said Wednesday it supported Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios' right to grant independence to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2018.

The Holy Synod, which met on Tuesday and Wednesday, said it also recognized Vartholomaios' “privilege” to “further address the issue of recognition.”

Vartholomaios, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, announced his decision to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church in October 2018, stating that Ukrainians “desired ecclesiastical independence” for centuries.

He presented a decree of independence to the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in January 2019.

The move was widely condemned by the Russian Church, which has since severed ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.