The program of the eighth day of the archpastoral and pilgrimage tour of Ukraine of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill ended by the visit to Svyatogorsk Convent of Zymne.
At the monastery gates His Holiness was met with the orchestra music by His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir of Kyiv and All Ukraine, bishops and clergymen of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, hegumeness Stephana (Bandura) with nuns, numerous local inhabitants and pilgrims. Also the representatives of local authorities were present: head of the administration of Volyn region N.Ya. Romanyuk, head of the regional council A.P.Hrytsiuk, mayor of Volodymyr-Volynskyi P.D. Saganyuk.
Meeting the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, hegumeness Seraphima read out the greeting address on behalf of the nuns of the convent and gifted to His Holiness the copy of the Wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God of Zymne.
Then His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia spoke expressed his gratitude, noting, in particular, that from the time of his election to Patriarchal throne he strived with all his heart to visit Ukraine, wishing also to visit the Convent of Zymne.
His Holiness also spoke to the faithful and blessed them. The people greeted the Patriarch loudly, crying out “Kirill is our Patriarch”, and chanted “Many Years” to him.
In the Cathedral of Dormition His Holiness bowed unto the shrines of the monastery, the main of which being the Wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God of Zymne. By the legend, the Holy Prince Vladimir received it from the Patriarch of Constantinople as a blessing of his marriage with the sister of Byzantine emperor Anna, and then gave the shrine as a present to the Church of the Dormition of Theotokos in Zymne.
Then His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir prayed at the monument of the Holy and Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, who is considered to be the founder of the abode.
