3,000 Orthodox Believers Take Part In Service Conducted By Patriarch Kirill Of Moscow And All Rus In Donetsk

7/5/2011

Close to 3,000 Orthodox believers on May 7 took part in a liturgy at the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Donetsk conducted by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus.

Metropolitan Volodymyr, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, and other Orthodox leaders from Ukraine, Russia, and other countries took part in the liturgy.

Liudmyla Yanukovych, the wife of President Viktor Yanukovych, attended the liturgy together with the leaders of Donetsk and Donetsk region.

After the liturgy Patriarch Kirill gave all believers his blessing in a kind of a small icon.

The service lasted for nearly 2.5 hours. It was broadcasted by local television and in the Internet.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus on May 6 arrived in Ukraine to participate in celebrations on the occasion of the 90th birthday anniversary of Metropolitan Nicodemus of Kharkiv and Bohodukhov of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), and the 60th birthday anniversary of Metropolitan Ilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol (the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate).

Patriarch Kirill intends to visit Donetsk and Kharkiv from May 6 to 8 to participate in celebrations marking the 90th birthday anniversary of Metropolitan Nicodemus.

On May 7, after the liturgy at the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Donetsk he will go to Kharkiv.
Patriarch Kirill visited Ukraine from April 25 to 27 to participate in events marking the 25th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.

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