Delegation from Ecumenical Patriarch to visit Ukraine to mark Rus Christianization

"Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the first persons of other local Orthodox churches ignored the invitation of the UOC-MP to celebrate the 1030th anniversary of the Christianization of the Rus-Ukraine, but did not deny the president of Ukraine - a delegation from the Mother Church in Ukraine will still attend the holiday," the report reads. 

At the same time, it notes that other local Orthodox churches, "in order to withstand the already established 'church-diplomatic protocol'," send their delegations to Russia at the lowest possible level.

As Ukrinform reported, on the occasion of the 1030th anniversary of the Christianization of the Kyivan Rus on July 27 and 28, prayer services will be held in Kyiv and religious processions will be organized from the Orthodox Churches of Kyiv and Moscow Patriarchates.

The celebration of the 1030th anniversary of the Christianization of the Kyivan Rus-Ukraine will be held in accordance with a presidential decree of August 8, 2017.

On July 19, Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko said at a meeting of the organizing committee on preparing for and marking the 1030th anniversary of the Christianization of the Kyivan Rus-Ukraine that foreign guests, representatives of the Orthodox and Catholic churches from around the world, in particular an official delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, representatives of Ukrainian churches in the diaspora had been invited to mark the 1030 anniversary of the conversion of the Kyivan Rus-Ukraine to Christianity.

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