On Sunday of Orthodoxy UOC-MP Primate Blessed President-Elect of Ukraine

KYIV – On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the 21st of February, 2010, at the Kyiv Cave Monastery, with the newly-elected president of Ukraine present, the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Metropolitan Volodymyr, conducted a prayer service of thanksgiving on the occasion of the completion of the election campaign, reports the web site of the UOC-MP. 

Metropolitan Volodymyr congratulated Viktor Yanukovych on the victory in the elections of the President of Ukraine and presented him with a copy of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God as a blessing. It was the original Iveron Icon of the Mother of God that Viktor Yanukovych prayed at during his visits to the Holy Mount Athos. And right on the day of remembrance of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, February 25, the inauguration of the President of Ukraine is to be conducted. 

Also the primate of the UOC-MP made a present of a copy of the facsimile edition of the Peresopnytsia Gospels to the president-elect of Ukraine, on the original copy of which Viktor Yanukovych will swear to the people of Ukraine in the walls of the Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada) of Ukraine.  In the book Metropolitan Volodymyr made an inscription: "To President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych with God's blessing and wishes to rule the State in accordance with God's Word."   

Having received the blessing of the UOC-MP primate, the President-Elect of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych addressed the clergy and faithful with words of gratitude  for prayer support and expressed confidence that due to Ukraine’s laborious people, fertile lands, and Orthodox faith Ukraine will become a strong and succeeding state, respected all over the world.