On the eve of archpastoral visit to Ukraine of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill the head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC archimandrite Kirill Hovorun answered questions of the host of “Blagovisnyk”Larisa Poberezhnyk:
- What is the chief objective of the archpastoral visit of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill?
- The objective is always the same: a pastoral visit. It means that the Patriarch comes to his fold, the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who are waiting for him and fro communication with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. That is what the visit comes down to.
- What is the main emphasis of this visit?
- In this visit in focus of attention is the communication of the pastor and his flock, which once again means that it is an ecclesial visit, that the Patriarch will meet exclusively the bishops, faithful, clergymen, and students of the theological schools. This is the chief purpose of the visit, and the emphasis is laid here. The faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the clergy, episcopate and the Primate of our Church first of all expect spiritual support of the Patriarch in the great mission our Church performs in Ukraine, in the Ukrainian society. First of all, these are the initiatives for overcoming of schisms our Church undertakes. The Patriarch has more than once emphasized that he supported the urge of the UOC to overcome the divisions. This is also participation in common worship, what we call prayerful communion, when the Patriarch will head the Liturgy at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and Svyatogorsk Lavra, in Pochayiv, Chersonese and Crimea. Such liturgical and Eucharist communion is one of the points of Patriarch’s stay in Ukraine.
- Is the convocation of the Council of Bishops of the UOC scheduled during the visit?
- No, it is not. This visit is not extraordinary; this visit is planned and logical. The Primates of the Russian Orthodox Church begin their First Hierarch’s ministry with a visit to Kyiv as a cradle of the Russian Orthodoxy. That is why, when metropolitan Kirill was elected to the Patriarchal throne, he declared that first of all he wanted to visit Kyiv, the original source of the Russian Christianity, its baptismal font. And that is how this visit is carries out. It is a regular visit which does not suggest extraordinary actions. The session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church is planned. It has become a tradition that the Patriarch holds the sessions of the Holy Synod outside Moscow. The previous Synod was held in St. Petersburg. The next one will probably be held in the city on Neva, too. And the summer one – in Kyiv. This is the joint event of conciliar nature. On the eve of the visit the Holy Synod of the UOC was held where the Address to the faithful on the occasion of the visit was adopted. Thus the Synod prepared this visit of the Patriarch.
- His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr noted in his interview that for a believer the meeting with the Patriarch, participation with him in liturgical services is always the feast. And the more such feasts there are the better. Will there be the meetings with representatives of the Ukrainian authorities, leaders of various parties and religious confessions?
- This visit is pastoral, it does not presuppose wide political contacts. The Patriarch has consciously distanced himself from such contacts. There will be formal meetings with the president of Ukraine, laying of flowers to the monument of Glory, dedicated to the victims of the Great Patriotic War and to the monument of the victims of the Ukrainian Famine (Holodomor). That is what the public and political activities of the Patriarch will be limited to.
- Why is there so much political rush about the visit?
- I don’t understand it. Obviously, it is caused by the complex political situation in the country, may be it is due to the pre-election campaign which has started in fact. What the Patriarch would strive for himself is to avoid politicization of the visit. His arrival to the faithful and his address to the Orthodox Ukrainians are of exclusively pastoral and missionary character, there will be no political bias.
- Will it be the step to overcoming schism in the Ukrainian Orthodoxy?
- We count on that very much. The Patriarch supports the initiatives of the UOC as for overcoming the schism. We hope that the visit of the Patriarch will become a powerful impulse to advance coping with the schism. No doubt that the schism is a nonsense, it is a tragedy, it must not be, it should be overcome. The Patriarch is well aware of that, he spoke repeatedly about it in his interviews and statements.
- Will there be any meetings of the Patriarch with the representatives of other confessions?
- Some representatives of other confessions will be present at the events with Patriarch’s participation. In particular, the representatives of the Muslim and Judaic communities, of the Roman-Catholic Church. Speaking of the schismatic groupings, the meetings with them are not scheduled. The Patriarch supports our Church in its dialogue with other jurisdictions here in Ukraine. In his person we have the one who understands and supports the course of the open dialogue towards each other, absence of confrontation, avoiding conflict situations and mutual accusations. The Patriarch understands that only in such way we can get rid of the schism we have. Patriarch Kirill has a great positive experience of overcoming schisms. We have seen it from his activity concerning reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. Therefore we count on his support and assistance in coping with schism in Ukraine.
- What are the routes of the archpastoral visit of Patriarch Kirill?
- It will begin in Kyiv. It is logical and understandable, since Kyiv is the cradle of all Orthodoxy in the Russian and Ukrainian lands. He will stay here on July 27-29. Then he leaves for Donbass where he will take part in the festive liturgy in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God of Svyatogorsk, which stays at Svyatogorsk Lavra. Here the Patriarch will preside over the Divine Liturgy. After Donbass he will fly to Crimea. He will stay at Simferopol and then - Sebastopol, where he is to conduct the Divine Liturgy at St. Vladimir’s Church, in the place of the Baptism of Vladimir the Great in Chersonese. Taking part in this Liturgy will all the hierarchs of the UOC and the guests from Russia. After Crimea the Patriarch will fly to West Ukraine, where he is to visit the Monastery of Korets in Rivne region, Lutsk, the monastery of Zimne, Volodymyr-Volynskyi. The visit will be concluded by the visit to Pochayiv, where he is to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God of Pochayiv. It will be a special holiday, since this tear we celebrate 350
th anniversary of St. Job of Pochayiv.
- When is the next Patriarch’s visit planned, it won’t take place once in 17 years as it was with the previous Patriarch, will it?
- We don’t know that, let’s see how this visit passes, how the situation develops further on. We'll have to see.
"Religion in Ukraine", 24.07.2009
