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Universal and Moscow Patriarchs to Meet in Kyiv

17.07.2008, [14:21] // Inter-Christian relations //

Kyiv—Universal Patriarch Bartholomew I will meet with Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow in Kyiv following a long break in cooperation. According to a correspondent of www.unian.net, the deputy head of the President’s Secretariat, Yurii Bohutskyi, reported this story at a briefing. He noted that the patriarchates themselves reached this agreement.

Bohutskyi also reported that the preparation for the celebration of the 1020th anniversary of the baptism of Kyivan Rus and the formation of the program of events for the occasion resulted from great compromises since each Church has its own canons and rules, in which the state cannot interfere.

He reported that the Churches reached an agreement that on 27 July 2008, on St. Volodymyr’s Hill, a liturgy will be celebrated by the Universal Patriarch Bartholomew I. It will be attended by the heads of all delegations of Orthodox Churches, particularly, Alexis II. At the same time, the question of the participation in the service of Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate remains unsettled.

It is planned that the liturgy will be attended by Ukraine’s President, members of the government, deputies, and other high ranking officials.

In response to the question about the subject of the discussion between Bartholomew I and Alexis II during their meeting, Bohutskyi noted that to ask about the content would be unethical. At the same time, he assumed that the question of Ukrainian Churches will be topical in their dialogue.

“We will not stop them in that aspiration,” joked Bohutskyi.

In his turn, the head of the organizing committee on the celebration of the baptism of Kyivan Rus, Leonid Kravchuk, noted that it would be not be right to tell the patriarchs what to discuss. He compared it with the situation when a person invites guests to a celebration in order to solve that person’s problems. “They will not understand you,” said Kravchuk.