Ukraine's Orthodox Patriarch to Ex-CIA OPs Chief: "Thanks for Independence"
Former CIA Associate Director Jack Devine Was Recently Bestowed With The Church’s Highest Decoration.
https://www.trunews.com/stream/ukraines-orthodox-patriarch-to-ex-cia-ops-chief-thanks-for-independence
Patriarch Filaret, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is set to receive its autocephaly from the Russian Orthodox Church just after the first of the year, has made his appreciation of a former CIA official well known this week. The church leader presented Jack Devine, the former CIA associate director who retired from government service in 1999, with the Order of St. Andrew, the church's highest decoration. The Ukrainian church led by Filaret broke off from the Russian Orthodox Church in the early 1990s following the fall of the Iron Curtain. Since his retirement, the former spymaster has run the intelligence operations for The Arkin Group, which he co-founded with New York City attorney Stanley Arkin and that provides high-end international intelligence and investigative services. Thursday, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople - the head of the worldwide Eastern Orthodox church - will grant the Ukrainian church's official independence from Moscow on Jan. 6, which is Christmas Eve in the eastern faith. The Moscow Patriarchate, which refuses to acknowledge the Ukrainian church's separation, has said it will not attend Saturday's deliberations.