Russian patriarch starting apostolic visit to Ukraine

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is arriving in Kyiv on a traditional apostolic visit on Tuesday to mark the adoption of Christianity in Kyivan Rus on July 28, the Kyiv Post informs.

The Russian patriarch is expected to meet with Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra on the same day, the Russian patriarch's press service told Interfax-Ukraine.

On Wednesday Patriarch Kirill will conduct a festive service at Volodymyrska Hirka (Volodymyr Hill), where a monument to Prince Volodymyr stands, and then chair a meeting of the Holy Synod.

Later on Wednesday the Russian patriarch will attend an opening ceremony for an international forum of Orthodox women, with the motto "Orthodox Women: Unity, Service, Love," and meet with the presidents of Ukrainian universities at the Shevchenko National University in Kyiv.

On July 28, the day which marks the adoption of Christianity in mediaeval Rus and commemorates Saint Prince Vladimir, Patriarch Kirill, Ilia II and Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine, will conduct a divine service at the Cathedral Square of the Monastery of the Caves.

Patriarch Kirill will also lay flowers to the monument for victims of the mass famine in the 1930s and to the Eternal Glory Memorial at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Kyiv.

He will return to Moscow on the same day.

Kyiv, the capital of modern Ukraine, was the capital of medieval Kyivan Rus, whose leader Prince Volodymyr made Christianity its official religion more than 1,000 years ago. 

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