Notes on Patriarch Kirill's upcoming visit to Ukraine

КYIV (RISU) - The upcoming visit of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow to Ukraine, planned for 27 July until 5 August, 2009, has already provoked many questions. On 25 June, 2009, RISU approached archpriest Heorhii Kovalenko, press secretary of the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), head of the synod division “Mission of Spiritual Enlightenment” of the UOC-MP, and head of the press service of Moscow Patriarch Kirill’s visit to Ukraine to ask him about the character of the visit. He said that “the patriarch stresses that the visit has no political or state agenda. The visit will have an exclusively religious format. The patriarch is going to his flock for a communal prayer.”

“There are no inter-confessional events planned. The visit of the patriarch will be exclusively religious: divine services, visitation of churches and monasteries, and meetings with his flock,” noted the archpriest in his interview to RISU.

In answer to the question about the possible session of the Synod of Bishops of the UOC-MP, the archpriest said: “No decisions are planned to be made during the visit. The resolution which Ukraine awaits needs assiduous preparation in order to prevent a repeat of the tragic mistakes of the early 1990s.”

“During the visit, there will be a session in Kyiv of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). This, however, is a continuation of the new tradition of the sessions of the Holy Synod of the ROC (Moscow – St. Petersburg – Kyiv – …). Discussion of controversial questions during such the session is not planned. Maybe the patriarch is using the example of Holy Synod of the UOC that took place in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Pochajiv, Zymnenskyj Monastery…,” added the archpriest to RISU.

Complete interview here.