www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Ecumenical Patriarch to Lead Celebrations in Kyiv Next Week

25.07.2008 10:38
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
President welcomes Patriarch Bartholomew I in Ukraine

President Victor Yushchenko welcomed in Ukraine Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. The welcoming ceremony took place today at Boryspil airport.

In his greeting word President Yushchenko thanked Patriarch Bartholomew I for his efforts in promoting spiritual values around the world.

He also stressed that Ukrainians consider the visit an exhibit of deep Christian love to the whole Ukrainian nation.

Patriarch Bartholomew I from his part thanked President Yushchenko for the invitation to take part in celebration of 1020th anniversary of Baptism of Rus’.

“We arrived here to pray for unification of all the Christians of Ukraine. We arrived here as angels of peacewho desire unity”, - he said.

Together with President, President’s Chief of Staff Viktor Baloha, NSDC Secretary Raisa Bohatyryova, former President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk, Vice Prime Minister Ivan Vasyunyk, Minister for Culture Vasyl Vovkun, Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, His Beatitude Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine, other officials.

http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/10735.html

25.07.2008 11:50
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
President prays in Kyiv Pechersk Lavra

President Victor Yushchenko took part in a festive service on the occasion of 1020th anniversary of Christianization of Kyivan Rus’.

The service took part in Kyiv Pechersk Lavra and was conducted by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Volodymyr.

After the service Metropolitan Volodymyr and Patriarch Bartholomew I said greeting words and exchanged presents.

Together with President, members of the government and delegates from foreign Orthodox Churches, who arrived to Ukraine to take part in the celebration also took part in the event.
http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/10738.html

President takes part in festive liturgy at St. Sophia Cathedral

Together with his wife Kateryna Yushchenko, President Victor Yushchenko went to Saint Sophia Cathedral to take part in a festive evening liturgy, celebrating 1020th anniversary of Kyivan Rus’ Christianization. The liturgy was conducted by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.

Before the liturgy Patriarch Bartholomew I blessed over the new bells and the restored Holy Gates for the Cathedral. The idea of Holy Gates and bells restoration at St. Sophia Cathedral belonged to President Yushchenko.

After the service President Yushchenko and Patriarch Bartholomew I left their notes in the Book of Honorable Guests of Kyivan Sophia national preserve.
http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/10744.html

25.07.2008 20:16
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
President hosts dinner for the Ecumenical Patriarch
President Victor Yushchenko hosted a dinner in honor of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.
In his toast President said that celebration of 1020th anniversary of Baptism of Kyivan Rus’ is very important for strengthening ties between Christians Ukraine and the world.

“I am assure that this year’s celebration is important for … strengthening unity of world’s orthodox community”, - he said.

From his part Patriarch Bartholomew I pointed to the fact that many saints and martyrs, important figures of Christianity descended from the Ukrainian nation. “That is why this celebration is really grand. I praise and greet those people who have been working on its realization”, - said Patriarch Bartholomew I.
http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/10752.html

26.07.2008 12:50
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
President calls to unity among churches in Ukraine

President Victor Yushchenko and Mrs. Kateryna Yushchenko took part in a festive gathering on the occasion of 1020th anniversary of Kyivan Rus’ Christianization on Sophyivska Square in front of Kyiv St. Sophia Cathedral.

In his address President greeted all Ukrainians with this holiday. “It is a festival of Christianity, a festival of the European civilization. It is a festival of world’s Christian community and a festival of Orthodox Christianity. It is a festival of our nation with thousands of years of history”, - President said.

In his speech Victor Yushchenko also expressed hope for unification of Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. “I believe that with wisdom and perseverance we will walk through the path towards a dream. I believe that any partition of Ukrainian faithful is not for long. I believe that national Ukrainian Church will appear in Ukraine as a gift from God, as a historical truth and fairness”, - he said.

Addressing Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I President Yushchenko asked for his blessing for Ukraine and its nation.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, from his part, praised the idea of the Ukrainian authorities to celebrate 1020th anniversary of Kyivan Rus' Baptism.

“We wholeheartedly accepted the honoring invitation of His Excellency, the President of Ukraine Mr. Viktor Yushchenko to participate in the festive ceremonies for the 1020th anniversary of the baptism of the Ukrainian nation to Christianity by the Mother Church because, on the one hand, the contribution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the Christianization of the European peoples is celebrated by that multifaceted event, and, on the other hand, because by that event the new, European prospects of the Ukrainian nation are emphasized at a time of great and rapid changes worldwide. The Mother Church rejoices together with the pious Ukrainian people because that baptism remains an inexhaustible source of strength not only supporting its internal spiritual coherence, but also utilizing it fully in the important field of international relationships”, - he said.

He also encouraged everybody to renew the role of Christianity as a factor for unification in the name of the holiday.

“It is a common duty of the civic, political, ecclesiastical and in general intellectual leadership of the Ukrainian people to utilize by every appropriate means the God-given gift of the Baptism not only for the immediate cure of various confusions and traumatic events of the historic past, but also for the restoration of the cohesive role that the Orthodox Church played in the consciousness of the Christ-loving Ukrainian nation. If this confusion is prolonged in order to serve ethnophyletic or political ends and purposes foreign to the Church's spiritual character would abolish the cohesive power of the Baptism and would worsen the already dangerous division of the ecclesial body, a division that wounds not only spiritual unity but also the communal coherence of the Ukrainian people with obvious troublesome consequences for the future of Ukraine”, - said Patriarch Bartholomew I.
http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/10756.html