His Holiness Patriarch Kirill: “I Came to Pray for Ukraine inside the Historical Walls of the Kyiv Caves Monastery”
Patriarch Kiril Visits Ukraine
25/2/2010
On February 24, upon arrival to Boryspil airport, addressing the mass-media, the Patriarch said, among the other: «I came to Kyiv in order to pray tomorrow inside the historical walls of the Kyiv Caves Monastery – the place that the Russian Church comes from, the great spiritual tradition of the Kyivan Rus comes from – to pray for Ukraine and the elected president. We will ask God that he granted mercy to this land, bearing the great sign of the anointing of God, imposed on it through the Kyivan baptismal font. Kyiv is the mother of Russian cities, the land of Ukraine that passed through difficult years, through the prayers of the holy fathers of the Kyiv Caves today are obtaining a possibility to overcome the problems that the country and the nation face. And the Church will subserve that by all means – by the prayer and by good deeds”.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill made his way from Boryspil to the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, where he was welcome by the monastery brethren at the Church of Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church gave a kiss of veneration to the main shrine of the ancient abode – the Icon of the Holy Dormition of the Mother of God, which always stays above the Royal doors of the Church of Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
Deputy Abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Archbishop Pavel of Vyshgorod said, addressing the Patriarch: “Your Holiness, our dear Primate and the First Hierarch and the father of the Russian Orthodox Church! Today we thank God for the greatest mercy to meet You again in our holy abode. I hope and believe that this visit will bring peace to our country. We thank God and thank You, Your Holiness, for Your love of the monkhood, and today you are welcome by all our brethren. We thank His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr, who took much effort for the benefit of the monastics and our holy monastery. We are happy today, Your Holiness, and no words can express our gratitude for Your labors for the sake of the Holy Orthodox Church. We pray that God saved You in good health».
On behalf of the brethren of the Kyiv Caves Monastery Archbishop Pavel gave an icon of the Venerable Agapit of the Kyiv Caves with a piece of the holy relics as a present to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.
In response His Holiness Patriarch Kirill thanked the brethren for the warm welcome and addressed those present with the following words: “Your Eminences, Graces, dear Vladyka the Deputy Abbot, brethren! I heartily thank You for the common prayer. I arrived here in order to perform a prayer service tomorrow together with His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr, to pray for Ukraine that the Lord granted mercy to this sacred land, its long-suffering people, reunited those in division, instructed those lacking peace and reason, and helped to build up quiet life in Ukraine. We will also pray for the president-elect of Ukraine that God sent him strength, understanding and patience to perform the ministry he is called to. I am happy to have an opportunity to visit the mother of the Russian cities again, the ancient Kyiv, the first monastery of the Russian land – the Kyiv Caves monastery, to touch its shrines. I’m keeping in my heart and memory the unforgettable visit of Kyiv in summer 2009 and hope that today touching the Kyivan shrines will strengthen me in my Patriarchal ministry”.
