Patriarch Kirill gives up Kyiv visit for Metropolitan Volodymyr's funeral
Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Patriarch of Moscow Kirill will not attend the funeral of Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine (pictured) Volodymyr (Sabodan) in order provide "a pretext for the radical force's renewed action," Vladimir Legoyda, head of the Synodal Information Centre, told Interfax on Sunday.
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, president of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, will attend today's service instead. A few months ago, he was turned back at the border against the backdrop of escalating tensions between the two countries due to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
In June, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture said that a visit by Kirill to the Ukraine was not a good idea. The anniversary of the Baptism of Rus will be celebrated at the end of July.
The primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which depends from the Moscow Patriarchate, passed away on Saturday at age 78 after a long illness.
Over the weekend, during a memorial service at the Monastery of the Caves in Kyiv, President Petro Poroshneko, Prime Minister Arseni Yatsenyuk and Fatherland (Batkivshchyna) Party chief Yulia Timoshenko paid tribute to the late metropolitan as did representatives of other confessions, along with a crowd of the faithful.
"The Lord has taken Metropolitan Volodymyr and placed him immediately among the righteous, and now God will hear his prayers for Ukraine," Poroshenko said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a message of condolence, whilst the Moscow Patriarchate described the later primate as a person "who devoted his life entirely to the Church."
During the protests in Kyiv's Maidan Square, Metropolitan Volodymyr was seen as a supporter of the opposition struggle against then President Victor Yanukovych.
On several occasions, along with leaders of other Christian denominations and representatives of different religions, he condemned the violence and appealed for a peaceful solution to the crisis.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate is the largest religious community in the country. It does not recognise the Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate, established after a schism that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Kyiv Patriarch Filaret said that in recent years, in view of Volodymyr's positions and his concern for the future of Ukraine and orthodoxy, a gradual rapprochement had begun between the Church he leads and the Kyivan Patriarchate.
For Russia, the worst-case scenario would be if the Ukrainian Church-Moscow Patriarchate became independent and unified local Orthodox communities.
Now that the succession to the Metropolitan of Kyiv is open, some analysts believe Moscow will do everything to reassert its control over the Ukrainian community by naming a more obedient figure.
By contrast, other Ukrainian analysts and bloggers that deal with religious issues are convinced that the new primate will follow Volodymyr's course.
For Moscow, losing jurisdiction over the Ukrainian Church would mean giving up about half of all its parishes. What is more, about 60 per cent of its clergy, including many bishops who work in Russia itself, are from the former sister republic.
.png)
14/08/2014
05/07/2014
17/12/2020 09:13
