His Holiness Patriarch Kirill Welcomed by Thousands of Believers in Lutsk
About ten thousand people were waiting for the arrival of Patriarch Kirill in Lutsk near the constructed Cathedral of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Lands of Volyn.
The people stood in the square near the church and on the road which leads to it. Most of them cried “Our Patriarch is Kirill” and held posters with his portrait, banners “One nation – one Church”, “Ukraine Welcomes Her Patriarch”.
About thousand of adherents of the Kyivan Patriarchate organized their action too. They cried out into the megaphones “Away the Moscow pope!”, “Independent Church to Independent Ukraine” and held posters “Our patriarch is Philaret”, “Orthodoxy came from Kyiv, not Moscow”.
Militia officers tried to hold in check the crowd of believers, preventing confrontation. Event the rain which started did not tame people’s temper.
Upon arrival to the place of construction of the Cathedral the First Hierarch called the clergy of the Ukrainian Church to treat the schismatics with love, and noted “Everything will be not as they want, but as God wants”.
“Keep the Orthodox faith! And keeping faith does not mean only going to church, but to build relations with people in a right way”, he said, addressing those who gathered at the constructed Cathedral in Lutsk.
Patriarch made a special address to the clergymen of the Diocese of Lutsk with an appeal: “Be good pastors, receive also those who do not receive you, because our word is that of peace and love”. The priests and believers answered in chorus; “May God save You!”
As a keepsake of His Visit the Patriarch donated to the parish the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan. The believers, in their turn, offered the patriarch the icon of the Mother of God of Volyn as a present. The patriarch’s meeting with the faithful of Volyn concluded by the joint prayer and singing “many years” in Ukrainian.
The Patriarch called to the temporary church, reminding of a hangar, installed near the huge cathedral under construction. He is sure that once there will be a museum of the church history of Lutsk and Volyn in this temporary church.
RIA Novosti
