KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The newly elected head of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church has officially assumed office in the capital of Kiev, a month after the church severed its centuries-long ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Epiphanius I, 40, was enthroned during a lavish service at St. Sophia Cathedral in central Kiev on Sunday, a month after the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople granted independence to a new Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who is running for re-election in the country’s March 31 presidential race, and his arch-rival Yulia Tymoshenko both attended the ceremony.

In Moscow, the Russian Orthodox Church spokesman on Sunday dismissed the Kiev ceremony as a “pathetic spectacle.”

Putin assails Ukraine Orthodox church reform

President Vladimir Putin has criticized Ukraine’s move to set up a new Orthodox church independent from Moscow and promised to defend religious freedom.

Earlier this month, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople granted independence to a new Orthodox Church of Ukraine, formally severing its centuries-long ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who runs for re-election in March, has spearheaded the move that forced clergy and believers to choose between belonging to the old Moscow-affiliated church or the new Ukrainian one.

Putin said the push for the new church was rooted in “the struggle for power” and provoked “animosity and intolerance.” He warned Thursday that “we reserve the right to react and will do everything to protect human rights, including freedom of conscience.”

Metropolitan Epiphanius, newly elected head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, conducts a service during his enthronement in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attends the enthronement of the newly elected head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Epiphanius in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Metropolitan Epiphanius, newly elected head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, conducts a service during his enthronement in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Epiphanius has been elected to head the new Ukrainian church independent from the Russian Orthodox Church. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)