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Ukraine celebrates the 1020th anniversary of Russia's Baptism on a large scale
28-07-2008
Moscow, June 28, Interfax - Today the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir who baptized Russia.
Main celebrations are held in Kiev today where the 1020th anniversary of Russia's Baptism is commemorated these days. Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia who is visiting Ukraine with pastoral visit will chairs the Divine Liturgy in the Kiev Laura of the Caves.
Ukrainian authorities cast gloom over festivities dedicated to the anniversary of Russia's Baptism as they strived to establish "just Ukrainian" Church independent from the Moscow Patriarchate and invited the Constantinople Patriarchate head in the hope that he would bless church schism.
Ukrainian leaders gave preferences to the Constantinople Patriarch in course of celebrations and demonstrated open disregard (even on the protocol level) to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II though Ukraine belongs to his canonical territory.
In celebrations run-up authorities barred ad agents from placing Alexy II portraits on the streets, while Kiev was almost flooded with Patriarch Bartholomew posters. Ukrainian president personally met the Constantinople head in the airport and even drove him to one of the receptions. However, when Patriarch Alexy arrived, the most high-ranking official to meet him was the Supreme Rada speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk.
According to many observers, a kind of "Ukrainian battle line" passed through Kiev these days. The country's leaders tried to draw it between Ukraine and Russia, between their past and present, carefully negating a thousand-year history of fraternal countries and spiritual links rooted in one Dnieper baptistery.
Despite all efforts of Ukrainian state apparatus, the current visit of the Russian Church primate to the country has become a true triumph and whittled down all the attempts to understate the proximity between the two peoples. Instead of Viktor Yushchenko, thousands of ordinary Kiev citizens met Patriarch Alexy II near the Kiev Laura of the Caves.
People carpeted his way with flowers, waved Russian flags, chanted "Alexy is our patriarch!" and tendered an ovation to him, when he went up to the cathedral platform. They exclaimed "Alexy, Alexy!" when together with Bartholomew he was going to the liturgy.
The same animated atmosphere was in the rock-concert held in the Kreshchatyk (the main street of Kiev - IF) the day before, when many thousand crowd sang together with the DDT group, chorused Metropolitan Kirill's slogan on indivisibility of the Holy Russia and even strangers congratulated each other on the feast.
Istanbul Patriarch Bartholomew in spite of his indefinite statements, hasn't urged to set up independent Ukrainian Church and didn't bless Ukrainian schismatics, but on the contrary demanded that they shouldn't participate in the celebrations. Thus, political plan of "second Baptism" of Kiev Russia, which was cherished in Kiev and criticized by the Russian Foreign Ministry, failed.
