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Universal Patriarch Bartholomew I Arrives in Ukraine
26-07-2008
26.07.2008, [16:28] // Interreligious relations //
Kyiv-The Universal Patriarch Bartholomew I arrived in Ukraine. Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople was met at the Boryspil Airport on 24 July by Ukraine's President, the highest state officials, the delegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) led by its head Metropolitan Volodymyr, Archbishop Hieronymos of Athens and all Greece, the delegation of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC).
In his address at the airport in Kyiv, Patriarch Bartholomew noted: "We have came to pray together with you for the unification of all the Orthodox citizens of Ukraine in one Church, the Church of your people, the Church of your state."
As the Patriarch blessed those present and the whole of the Ukrainian nation, he assured that the Church of Constantinople has been and continues to be the mother-Church for Ukraine. "We are blessing You wholeheartedly on our behalf and on behalf of the Church of Constantinople, the Church that became your Mother ten centuries ago and has remained forever your Mother. The Mother cares about you, loves you, rejoices over your joy and grieves over your grief," said Patriarch Bartholomew.
Patriarch Bartholomew noted that the Mother Church knows and remembers its children, their grief and joy. In his address, the Patriarch particularly mentioned one of the greatest tragedies of the Ukrainian nation, the Holodomor famine-genocide of 1932-1933.
The Patriarch noted: "We have come to ask for the blessing of St. Volodymyr and numerous other saints, ascetics, and confessors of the faith of your state and to honor the memory of those who became martyrs during the hard years of the atheistic regime. We have come to bow our heads to the tragic victims of the Holodomor."
