Kuchma Repeats Invitation To Patriarch Alexis II

28 August 2001 Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma met with leaders from the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) who had come for the celebration of the 950th anniversary of the Kyivan Monastery of the Caves. At the meeting Kuchma confirmed his previous invitation to Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus, to visit Ukraine at “a time convenient for him.” The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) does not think that Kyiv is ready for a proper meeting with the patriarch.
Part of the meeting consisted of an exchange of thoughts regarding the situation in Ukrainian Orthodoxy and the surrounding Orthodox countries, Russia, Belarus and Moldova. Both sides agreed that the union of Orthodox in Ukraine is necessary. But the discussion regarding the visit of Patriarch Alexis II was more controversial. Metropolitan Ahafanhel of Odessa and Izmail (UOC-MP) commented at a press conference that same day that, for the visit “of one of the eminent hierarchs, necessary work must be performed which cannot be done in a short time.” The metropolitan recalled that the papal visit required nearly a year of preparations. “We want the patriarch to stop at the Monastery of the Caves during his visit to Ukraine,” Metropolitan Ahafanhel emphasized. But the metropolitan palaces on the territory of the Monastery of the Caves are in the possession of the Ukrainian government. The Russian mass media supposes that, by inviting Patriarch Alexis II, President Kuchma wants to be rehabilitated in the eyes of the Moscow Patriarchate, which was upset by Pope John Paul II’s recent visit to Ukraine. The president does not want to lose the support of the largest confession in Ukraine.