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Yanukovich prays before taking office

PATRIARCH KIRILL BLESSES YANUKOVICH FOR PRESIDENCY
Interfax, 25 February 2010

Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill gave Viktor Yanukovich his blessing for performing the duties of president of Ukraine.

As an "Interfax" correspondent reports, a festive prayer service was held this morning in the Kiev caves lavra in the presence of V. Yanukovich.

"May the Lord bless you on taking power," the patriarch said, addressing the newly elected president of Ukraine.

He added that service in government requires enormous spiritual and physical energies. "Today we pray to the Lord and Savior and the saints that they will be with you in your performing responsible service for Ukraine," Patriarch Kirill said.

He expressed the wish for the new president and the Ukrainian people to overcome all difficulties and tasks of the present, in particular the historic, cultural, spiritual, and other disagreements.

"The indispensable condition of prosperity is the unity of the nation," the primate of the church noted. He stressed the importance of establishing friendly relations among the "constituent parts of Kievan Rus."

"May God grant that your actions be directed to the flourishing of Ukraine," the patriarch said.  In conclusion he read several lines in the Ukrainian language from the "Prayer for Ukraine" and presented an image of the Savior to V. Yanukovich.

In his turn, the newly elected president expressed confidence that the Ukrainian people will overcome all difficulties and challenges facing the country.  "With faith in our Lord God Jesus Christ and with hope that he will bestow his own strength for the sake of our fatherland and for the sake of our children and grandchildren to overcome all difficulties and to build a strong state which will be respected in the world," V. Yanukovich said. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 February 2010)

METROPOLITAN OF KIEV PRESENTED YANUKOVICH RING SEAL OF SON OF YAROSLAV THE WISE FOR INAUGURATION
Interfax, 25 February 2010

Newly elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich received upon the conclusion of the prayer service in the Kiev caves lavra a gift from Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Vladimir a ring seal of Kievan Prince Vsevolod, son of Yaroslav the Wise.

"This gift from the Metropolitan of Kiev to the newly elected Ukrainian president is a symbol of the succession from the Holy Equal-of-the-apostles Prince Vladimir and the Holy Blessed Prince Yaroslav the Wise and from our pious Orthodox rulers," the press secretary of the metropolitan, Archpriest Georgy Kovalenko, told reporters.

The priest recalled that Yaroslav the Wise received this seal as a gift from Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh in 1043. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 February 2010)

ADDRESS OF NEWLY ELECTED UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR IN REFECTORY CHURCH OF KIEV CAVES LAVRA

Your Holiness [Patriarch Kirill] and Your Blessedness [Metropolitan Vladimir], I am very thankful to you for this prayer service with which you have blessed me and Ukraine for a good pathway.


I am sure that the Ukrainian people will overcome all the difficulties on this pathway and all those challenges of the time that the Lord God has given us today. We will overcome them and we will be united.

The Ukrainian nation is strong; the Ukrainian land is fertile; the Ukrainian people are industrious. With faith in our Lord God Jesus Christ and with hope that he will bestow his own strength for the sake of our fatherland and for the sake of our children and grandchildren to overcome all difficulties and to build a strong state which will be respected in the world. And may the Lord God help us in this.

Viktor Yanukovich,
President of Ukraine

Russian original posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 25 February 2010


YANUKOVICH ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HE FEELS RESPONSIBILITY BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY FOR POST OF PRESIDENT
Interfax, 25 February 2010

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich declared that all of his actions in the new post will be directed to the prosperity of Ukraine.

He stated this in his inaugural address in the parliament on Thursday.

"I have always placed action higher than rhetoric, and I will not deviate from this rule in my new position. Work and results in the name of the prosperity of my motherlandÑthat is the credo with which I approach the fulfillment of my duties in the new post. I am counting on your support and also the support of the international community, which wants to see our country strong and stable," V. Yanukovich said.

"What do I feel as I place my hand on the holy Peresopnitskoe Gospel? Responsibility and humility before the people of Ukraine, which in the course of free balloting gave a majority of votes for my candidacy, and before the Almighty, by whose will I am entering upon the post of head of the Ukrainian state in a time that is so difficult for it," he said. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 February 2010)


REPRESENTATIVE OF RUSSIAN CHURCH DECISIVELY REJECTS CRITICISM FOR POLITICIZING PATRIARCH KIRILL'S TRIP TO YANUKOVICH INAUGURATION
Interfax, 25 February 2010

A prayer service and liturgy will be the chief component of the visit by Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill to Ukraine, the head of the Information Department of the Moscow patriarchate, Vladimir Legoida declared.

In a broadcast from the "Moscow Speaks" radio station he noted that Patriarch Kirill went to Ukraine "at a difficult and fateful time," so that at the "moment when very serious changes are taking place in the country he can be with his flock and pray with his flock."

"We have often said that the Russian Orthodox church is not the church of the Russiann federation, so therefore I have read with regret today a note on one of the news sites that the head of the presidential administration, Haryshkin, and Patriarch Kirill will represented Russia in Ukraine," Legoida said.  He added that it is possible to say that in a way Patriarch Kirill represents Ukraine in Russia. To view the pastoral visit as a visit of a representative of one state to another state is "categorically untrue," V. Legoida emphasized.

He said that the flock of the Russian Orthodox church is found both in Ukraine and in Belorussia and in Moldavia. "All of this is the patriarch's flock, and in this sense the color of his passport does not play any role," the head of the Information Department explained.

He regretted that Ukrainian nationalists, whose arguments are "utterly politicized," try to distort the genuine meaning of the patriarchal visit. "These attempts demonstrate complete misunderstanding of the nature of the church and who the patriarch is. The church is not a state and not a territory," Legoida emphasized.

He recalled that the canonical boundaries of local churches frequently do not coincide with state boundaries; for example, the jurisdictions of the Alexandria, Antioch, and several other patriarchates also extent to several states and this is an "entirely normal situation." (tr. by PDS, posted 25 February 2010)

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Ukrainian politician calls president to reject patriarch's blessing

"UKRAINIAN CHURCH HIERARCHS SHOULD BLESS NEW PRESIDENT, NOT MOSCOW PATRIARCH"ÑUKRAINIAN NATIONAL PARTY
Portal-credo.ru, 24 February 2010

The Ukrainian National Party (UNP, member of the "Our UkraineÑNational Self-Defense" parliamentary block) called on the newly elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, to refuse to accept the blessing of Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill on the day of his inauguration, "Rosbalt" reports, citing the press service of the party.

In the opinion of Supreme Soviet Deputy Ivan Zaits, the first vice-chairman of UNP, Yanukovich should refuse to participate in the prayer service that Kirill plans to conduct in the Kiev caves lavra on 25 February.

"If Yanukovich consents to the blessing of the leader of a foreign church, he will not have the moral right to take the oath on the Peresopnitskoe Gospel because then the inauguration of the new president of Ukraine will be turned into the anointing of the regent of Little Russia," Zaets noted.

"Ukrainian church hierarchs should bless the new president because it is Ukrainian interests that the leader of Ukraine is supposed to defend. Thus if Yanukovich wishes to sanctify his presidency, he should summon leaders of all Ukrainian confessions to conduct a general prayer service and jointly bless the president," the member of UNP thinks.

"Yanukovich very often mentions the glorious past of the times of the Cossacks, although not a single hetman, including even Bogdan Khmelnitsky, was blessed by a Russian patriarch, but exclusively by the metropolitan of Kiev," the politician noted.

"Thus Yanukovich should decide what government he aspires to be president ofÑLittle Russia or an independent united Ukraine," Ivan Zaets concluded.

As is known, by invitation of the newly elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill will lead on 25 February a prayer service in the Holy Dormition Kiev caves lavra prior to the ceremony of the inauguration of the president.

The patriarch will perform the divine service jointly with the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Vladimir.

After the prayer service and the patriarch's homily of greeting, Yanukovich will leave for the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine, where he will take the presidential oath with his hand lying on the historic Peresopnitskoe Gospel. (tr. by PDS, posted 24 February 2010)

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Patriarch on political mission to Ukraine

PATRIARCH'S PARTICIPATION IN YANUKOVICH INAUGURATION MAKES POLITICAL SENSE CONNECTED WITH "THIRD ROME" MYTHOLOGY
Portal-credo.ru, 24 February 2010

"Patriarch Kirill's arrival for the inauguration of Viktor Yanukovich provides an answer to the question of what path of development in the 21st century Russia has chosen for itself. The participation of the head of the Russian Orthodox church in the ceremony of Ukraine's new president taking the oath of office strengthens the situation that has developed de facto,  where priests of RPTs fulfill the duties of official persons of the state." That is the opinion expressed by Viktor Nebozhenko, political scientist and director of the sociological service "Ukrainian Barometer," on 22 February for "Odnako."

He said that the Putin-Medvedev tandem attains completion and the necessary stability in the person of the primate of RPTsMP. "The duumvirate, by itself, is unstable, and one way or another there will be a struggle for power, while its antithesis is a triumvirate or triangle, in which the Orthodox church will answer the social, moral, and ethical questions. And the issue is not even the personality of Patriarch Kirill but it is simply that Russia is in a situation where it is forced to turn to RPTs and attempt to incorporate it anew into the mechanism of state power, Viktor Nebozhenko thinks. "In addition, one should not forget that recently protestants and sectarians have registered in on federation territory and the number of Russian Muslims is approaching 50 million."

"Of course, the participation of the head of RPTs in the inauguration ceremony has evoked discussion in Ukrainian society. Someone will consider it "anointing for the tsardom," a ritual similar to receiving the crown from the pope of Rome; some will speak about a symbolic remission of Yanukovich's sins before taking the oath as president of Ukraine. In any case, the new head of state can invite to his inauguration representatives of any confessions and he should not be criticized for this. It is much more important that the West's participation in the ceremony be limited to politicians of the second rank, and Russia's participation be no more than sending to Ukraine the Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus in place of the president or prime minister," the political scientist concluded.

We recall that the ceremony of the inauguration of Viktor Yanukovich is scheduled for 25 February.  (tr. by PDS, posted 24 February 2010)

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Ukrainian nationalists object to patriarch's visit

UNA-UNSO TO PICKET KIEVAN SHRINES PATRIARCH KIRILL PLANS TO VISIT
Portal-credo.ru, 23 February 2010

The Ukrainian national movement "Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian National Self-Defense" [UNA-UNSO] is upset with the invitation to Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill to come to Kiev for the inauguration of newly elected Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich, and it promises to organize a picket on the day of his visit. This declaration was issued by the chairman of the executive committee of UNA-UNSO, Ruslan Zaichenko, a member of the administration of UNA-UNSO, Igor Mazur, and the first vice-chairman of the Ukrainian World Coordinating Council, Mikhail Ratushny.

"UNA-UNSO declares a decisive protest with regard to the announced intention of Kirill to bless the inauguration of Yanukovich. . . . And if Kirill comes to Kiev, we want for our feelings to reach him personally. . . . We are preparing a picket. We want for the world to see that we are not Russia's votchina and that it was from Kiev that the light of Orthodoxy reached Russia," Zaichenko said.

In his turn, Ratushny recalled that for both the inauguration of Leonid Kuchma in 1999 and the inauguration of Viktor Yushchenko in 2005, the heads of all the basic Ukrainian confessions were present. "Yanukovich's aides have already managed to invite the Moscow patriarch to it, but so far they have not sent invitations to leaders of Ukrainian churches proper! Isn't this really a disgrace?" he noted.

At the same time, Ratushny noted that it is necessary to clarify whether the idea to invite Kirill derived from Yanukovich or was initiated by the Kremlin. "If this is the Kremlin's idea, then it is an insult to Yanukovich himself. If it is Yanukovich's idea, then it is an insult to the voters," Ratushny thinks.

He noted that all Ukrainian presidents have "stumbled" over the religion question and the same is manifested by the newly elected head of state. "It is a very bad tradition," Ratushny noted, UNIAN reports. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 February 2010)

UKRAINIAN BISHOP THINKS INVITATION OF RUSSIAN PATRIARCH TO INAUGURATION OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT NOT FULLY CORRECT STEP
Portal-credo.ru, 23 February 2010

In the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Kievan patriarchate [UPTsKP], it is thought that the invitation of Patriarch of Moscow and all-rus Kirill to the inauguration of the newly elected president, Viktor Yanukovich, is incorrect, the publication "Podrobnosti" reports.

The position of UPTsKP was voiced by the director of the Information-Publication Administration of the church, Bishop of Vasilkovka Evstraty.

"Considering the political circumstances in which the election campaign culminated, it is, in the first place, impossible to talk about an assured victory or assured defeat, which places upon the victor the necessity of finding mutual understanding with that part of Ukraine that did not vote for him, and considering this, there is no doubt that the invitation of the Russian patriarch to the inauguration of the president of independent Ukraine is a step that is not quite correct," the bishop declared.

According to Evstraty, the position that Kirill occupies and the conception of the "Russian world" that he expounds presuppose that Ukraine should be within Russia's sphere of interest, and this, UPTsKP thinks, also calls into question the correctness of the participation of the Russian patriarch in the inauguration of the Ukrainian president.

He recalled that former president Leonid Kuchma and current president Viktor Yushchenko met with representatives of the basic Ukrainian confessions after inauguration.

"Ukraine is not a single confessional state. There are several basic confessions in Ukraine. President Kuchma and President Yushchenko took this into account at the time of their ceremonies of inauguration, inasmuch as both in 1999 and in 2005 these presidents held meetings after the inauguration and conversed with leaders of all basic Ukrainian confessions in Holy Wisdom cathedral," the bishop emphasized.

In this regard Bishop Evstraty thinks that displaying special attention to the leader of a foreign church could be taken as disrespect to Ukrainian confessions.

"This is not only a definite manifestation of disrespect to the leaders of other Ukrainian confessions but it also calls into question the status of Metropolitan Vladimir as head of the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate," he said.

In the bishop's opinion, if Patriarch Kirill blesses Yanukovich on the day of the inauguration, this will appear strange and may be received ambiguously in Ukrainian society.

Bishop Evstraty reported that as of Monday UPTsKP had not received invitations to any event in connection with the inauguration.

We recall that Patriarch Kirill will visit Ukraine for participation in Yanukovich's inauguration on 25 February.  (tr. by PDS, posted 23 February 2010)


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Ukrainians alarmed at patriarch's role in president's inauguration

"LVOVSKAIA GAZETA": KIRILL'S PARTICIPATION IN YANUKOVICH INAUGURATION GIVES CEREMONY COLONIAL CHARACTER
Portal-credo.ru, 22 February 2010

The "humiliation of Ukraine" is what the weekly "Lvovskaia gazeta" called the upcoming visit of the head of RPTsMP Patriarch Kirill for the inauguration of Viktor Yanukovich in Kiev. "Colonial inauguration: Patriarch Kirill will bless the Ukrainian president": this is the way the article was titled.

"It seems, it will be possible to consider 25 February a day of the spiritual humiliation of Ukraine. The evidence of this is that on the day of Viktor Yanukovich's inauguration, Moscow Patriarch Kirill will arrive in Kiev in order personally to lead a service in the caves lavra of Kiev and to bless the new leader of our state," the article says.

"God's blessing is being bestowed on Yanukovich by the head of a church of another state. It is not possible to take the fact that a foreigner will pray for Yanukovich with indifference. In the first place, this is a world-wide humiliation for what has hitherto been independent Ukraine. And for the newly elected president himself.  It turns out that he has prayed demonstratively for Moscow," the "Lvovskaia gazeta" states with concern.

"Perhaps it would be better to talk about what kind of role the patriarch of Moscow is playing in the revival of Russian influence in postsoviet territory. It is no accident that Kirill is called 'the commissar of the Kremlin.' His concept of the maintenance of the 'Russian space' through his church is supported by the present rulers of Russia. The Russian church has enormous historic and diplomatic experience in the religious colonization of territories neighboring Russia," the publication warns.  (tr. by PDS, posted 22 February 2010)


UKRAINIAN METROPOLITAN VLADIMIR ADDS TO SERVICE OF TRIUMPH OF ORTHODOX PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING FOR ELECTION OF YANUKOVICH
Portal-credo.ru, 22 February 2010

On 21 February, in the rectory church of the Holy Dormition of the caves lavra of Kiev, on the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox church of the Moscow patriarchate [UPTsMP], Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Vladimir, performed the divine liturgy, the order for the Triumph of Orthodoxy, and a thanksgiving prayer service. As "Patriakhiia.ru" reports, citing sources in UPTsMP, with the metropolitan concelebrated the abbot of the lavra, Archbishop of Vyshgorod Pavel, the rector of the Kiev Ecclesiastical Academy and Seminary, Archbishop of Borispol Antony, Bishop of Makarov Ilary, Bishop of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitskii Alexander, Bishop of Vasilkovsk Panteleimon, and priests resident in the cloister. The newly elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, was among the worshippers.

Metropolitan Vladimir congratulated Viktor Yanukovich on his victory in the election and presented to him as a gift a copy of the Iverian icon of the Mother of God. "You venerate the icon of the Iverian Mother of God," the metropolitan said, turning to the newly elected head of state. "Twice you were at Mount Athos where this icon is located and you prayed there. The feast day in honor of this icon coincides with the day of your inauguration. May the Mother of God always preserve you under her holy omophorion and be your protector and helper."

The primate of UPTsMP presented Yanukovich a copy of a facsimile edition of the Peresopnitskoe Gospel. The fourth Ukrainian president will take the oath on the day of his inauguration, 25 February, on the original of the Peresopnitskoe Gospel, inside the Supreme Soviet.

Metropolitan Vladimir placed a memorial inscription on the facsimile edition of the monument of Ukrainian literature:  "To Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, with God's blessing and desire to accomplish the leadership of the country in accordance with God's Word."

After receiving the blessing of the primate of UPTsMP, Yanukovich addressed the clergy and believers with words of gratitude for their prayer support.

Observers in Kiev called attention to the fact that during the divine liturgy Metropolitan Vladimir was the only one of the bishops and clergy who wore green vestments (the others served in yellow vestments), which in RPTsMP is considered the "patriarchal" color. In this is viewed a covert dissatisfaction on the part of UPTsMP with the attempt of Patriarch Kirill to personally lead the prayer service on the occasion of the inauguration of the new president of Ukraine. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 February 2010)

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