Patriarch Kirill in Ukraine, calls Kiev "common Jerusalem"

Jul 27th, 2009 KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church led solemn prayers in Kiev on Monday, the first day of 10-day visit aimed at reasserting Moscow's dominance over church leaders in Ukraine.

Patriarch Kirill led the service on the sacred St. Volodymyr Hill in central Kiev near the statue of prince Volodymyr, who launched the Slavic world's conversion to Christianity in 988. Kirill then called for friendship, brotherhood and unity between the two tense Orthodox neighbors.

"We will pray for the good and prosperity of Ukraine, for the peace and accord among its citizens ... for our unbreakable spiritual and church unity," Kirill said.

The statement appeared to be a reference to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's efforts to establish an independent Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kremlin leaders strongly oppose.

Currently, Ukraine's main Orthodox church answers to Kirill, but a breakaway church that has proclaimed itself independent from Moscow in the 1990's has been gaining popularity and political support in this predominantly Orthodox country of 46 million.

Yushchenko, who has sought to break free from Russia's centuries-old political dominance and integrate with the West, has appealed to the spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox believers, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, to recognize a local Ukrainian church that would be independent of the powerful Moscow patriarchate.

Bartholomew, who visited Kiev last summer, has not given a clear response.

Kirill is to meet with Yushchenko later in the day. He told reporters after the prayers that he had no immediate plans to meet with the representatives of the breakaway church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kiev Patriarchate.

Kirill is to visit a number of Ukrainian cities during a prolonged visit that his office says is devoted strictly to pilgrimage. But observers note that his trips to such strongholds of pro-Russian support as the eastern coal-mining city of Donetsk and the port of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula have clear political undertones.

Before Kirill led the prayers, a group of nationalist activists shouting "Moscow priest get out!" briefly scuffled with his supporters near the St. Volodymyr Hall. The scuffle was promptly cut short by police.