Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will pay a pastoral visit to Donetsk and Kharkiv on May 6 to 8 to join celebrations of the 90th birthday of Metropolitan Nikodim of Kharkiv and Bhodukhiv.
"The Russian patriarch is expected to arrive in Donetsk on Friday, May 6. He will conduct a divine liturgy at the Savior-Transfiguration Cathedral early on Saturday and then visit the Donbass Arena sports center," a spokesman for the Synodal Information Department told Interfax-Religion (www.interfax-religion.ru).
On the same day the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church will travel to Kharkiv, where Patriarch Kirill will visit the Annunciation Cathedral and greet parishioners.
In the evening the Russian patriarch will join celebrations of the 90th birthday of Metropolitan Nikodim, to take place at the Kharkiv Opera and Ballet Theater.
A divine service will be conducted on May 8 on the city's Liberty Square by the Russian patriarch, Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine, and Russian and Ukrainian clergy.
Metropolitan Kirill will then lay wreaths on the Memorial of Glory and visit the Kharkiv eparchial department.
The delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church will return to Moscow on the same day.