This decision led the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to break communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 15 October 2018, which marked the beginning of the 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism. On 15 December 2018, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was formed after a unification council. On 5 January 2019, Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, signed the tomos that officially recognized and established the newly formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine and granted it autocephaly (self-governorship).