Can a government proclaim independence from the ruling hierarch of the church in their country?

A question from our catechism class: “Does the Latvian government have the authority to declare independence of the Latvian Orthodox Church from the Moscow?” As is our custom, we answer much more than just this question. This is a question of who we are and to whom we should be obedient. It is a question of when we should disobey our bishop and separate from him. It is a question of who should we be praying for and should we be praying for one or another combatant to be victorious in Ukraine or should we be praying for a stable peace as God desires it? What are the dangers to the church in Ukraine, that is the true Orthodox Christians in Ukraine? What can the little guy do?
As is always the case in any question about world politics or anything that happens in the world, our personal reaction to it must be a spiritual one first and must involve prayer for those we support in those we oppose. Every church should be praying for both Ukraine and Russia. Especially Ukrainian churches should be praying for Russia as well as their country, and Russian churches can be praying for Ukraine as well as their country. We also, from her tiny little pulpit, patriarch Curiel and Metropolitan Onuphrius to get together and concelebrate the liturgy as brothers, and not allow political rhetoric and the fog of war to obscure the fact that they are in brothers.

Video: https://youtu.be/_jbkWx5nndA
Audio:http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/misc_2022-09-11+latvian-government-proclaims-independence-from-russian-church.mp3