Patriarch Kirill to Visit Ukraine Every Year

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill intends to make annual pastoral trips to Ukraine, a spokesman of the Moscow Patriarchate reported.

"Patriarch Kirill has already expressed his intention to annually celebrate the Day of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus (St. Prince Volodymyr Day) in Kyiv, on the banks of the River Dnipro, where Rus was actually baptized," Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, deputy head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate said.

According to Podrobnosti, besides Kyiv, Patriarch Kirill will visit two or three eparchies of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church may visit Ukraine even more often for special occasions, Balashov said.