Pro and Con Regarding Moscow Patriarch Alexis II’s Planned Visit to Ukraine

As reported in RISU on July 16, Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Victor Chernomirdin has announced Alexis II’s intention to come to Kyiv on 28 August to celebrate the 950th anniversary of the founding of the Kyivan Monastery of the Caves. Signing in the name of the Orthodox faithful of Ukraine, various organizations have sent Alexis an informal letter of invitation to the event. The letter addresses the Patriarch: “You are the head of our Church and without your participation such a celebration would be incomplete. We are waiting for you and expect that your visit to Kyiv will help heal the spiritual wounds in the hearts of the flock entrusted to you.” The letter was signed by the Union of Orthodox Communities of Ukraine, the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods of Ukraine, the civic organization “One Homeland,” the All-Ukraine civic group “For Ukraine, Belarus and Russia” (Zubr) and the Russian community of Ukraine. The civic organization “One Particular Church for Ukraine,” however, is disturbed by the intention of Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, to invite Alexis II for the festivities and has publicized its misgivings.

According to the news agency Interfax-Ukraina, “One Particular Church” announced at a recent meeting: “The visit of Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow, on the tenth anniversary of Ukrainian independence and his hostile and aggressive position, demonstrated during the visit of Pope John Paul II, is a gross interference in the internal affairs of an independent state… The visit of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church will aggravate an already complicated situation between Orthodox Christian jurisdictions and will not bring about the consolidation of Ukrainian society.”

Materials for this article were taken from the Ukrainian-language www.novy.tv and the Russian-language www.strana.ru.