Ukrainian president, his wife participate in festive events on Kyiv Rus conversion celebrations on Sofiyska Square

UKRINFORMs photo

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and his wife Kateryna Yushchenko participated in festive events dedicated to the 1020th anniversary on converting the Kyiv Rus to Christianity on Sofiyska Square in Kyiv on Saturday. The events were held during an official visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to Ukraine.

In his address, the head of state congratulated the whole Ukrainian nation on the 1020th anniversary of the conversion of the Kyiv Rus to Christianity. "It is a holiday for Christianity and a holiday for the European civilization. It is a holiday for the Ecumenical Christian community and a holiday for Orthodoxy. It is a holiday for Ukraine and all of its Christian churches. It is a holiday for our millennial nation," the president said.

Bartholomew I, in turn, welcomed an initiative of the Ukrainian authorities to mark the 1020th anniversary of the conversion of the Kyiv Rus to Christianity. "We have sincerely accepted an honorary invitation from Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to participate in festive events on the occasion of the 1020th anniversary of the conversion of the Ukrainian nation to Christianity by the Mother Church," he said.

The Ecumenical Patriarch urged to use the potential of this holiday to restore a uniting role of Christianization. "The Mother Church has the right, according to established Orthodox traditions, to support any constructive and promising proposal, which might have eliminated dangerous schisms in the church body as soon as possible, so that evil does not turn into big evil for the saint church in Ukraine and the church in general. Various political and church difficulties triggered by existing confusion have become evident in the long historical past. But caring about the protection and restoration of the church unity is our common duty that prevails over any political or church affairs," Bartholomew I said.

Participants in the events included Verkhovna Rada Chairman Arseniy Yatseniuk, Presidential Secretariat Head Viktor Baloha, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Raisa Bohatyriova, Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko, and representatives of Orthodox churches from over 15 countries.

UKRINFORM