Firemen extinguish a fire at a gypsum manufacturing plant after shelling in the city of Bakhmut, in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, on Friday. Russia pressed on with a deadly offensive to capture key points in the Donbas this week. Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Services at Church of St. George on Sunday in Lviv, Ukraine. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attends a synod of three Ukrainian Orthodox churches to elect leadership of a new unified church in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine. Mikhail Palinchak/AP hide caption
Greek Orthodox priests, seen during a rally in Athens earlier this year. On Tuesday Greek Orthodox Archbishop Ieronymos agreed with the prime minister to remove roughly 10,000 priests and staff from the state payroll. Yorgos Karahalis/AP hide caption
Palestinian security forces push away demonstrators from the convoy of Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, during a protest against his visit to the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Saturday. Majdi Mohammed/AP hide caption
Dmitri Diliani, a Palestinian member of the Greek Orthodox church, stands on the roof of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem overlooking the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which houses the traditional tomb of Jesus. Daniel Estrin/NPR hide caption
Pakistani refugees go on a hunger strike during a protest against the EU's deportation deal with Turkey at Moria Refugee Camp in Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday. The pope and the Orthodox Church's ecumenical patriarch may be visiting the island soon. Anadolu Agency/Getty Images hide caption
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill (left), kisses Pope Francis as they meet at José Martí International Airport in Havana on Friday. Max Rossi/AP hide caption
Pope Francis will meet Patriarch Kirill in Cuba, in a historic step to heal the 1,000-year schism that has divided the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches. Andrew Medichini and Ivan Sekretarev/AP hide caption
Rescue workers help Russian Orthodox believers marking Epiphany by swimming late Monday in a pond in Pushkin, outside St. Petersburg. Thousands of Russian Orthodox Church followers plunged into icy rivers and ponds across the country. Dmitry Lovetsky/AP hide caption
The Rev. Vsevolod Chaplin, shown here in 2012, was dismissed with little explanation. The high-ranking religious conservative was known for making controversial statements about politics and public morals. Ivan Sekretarev/AP hide caption
Tourists walk past a poster of Pope Francis hanging on the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Monday. Pope Francis' trip to the Mideast later this week will commemorate the 50th anniversary of a historic rapprochement between Catholics and Orthodox, who split nearly 1,000 years ago. Mussa Qawasma/Reuters/Landov hide caption