POROSHENKO CELEBRATES DAY OF BAPTISM OF RUS AT LITURGY OF THE UPTsKP
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his wife, Marina, are attending official events in Kiev marking the 1,000th anniversary of the day of the death of Holy Prince Vladimir. The head of the UPTsKP, Filaret, is conducting the Divine Liturgy in the Vladimir cathedral, the chief church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the so-called Kiev patriarchate (UPTsKP).
Ceremonies on the occasion of the day of the baptism of Kievan Rus and the millennium of the death of Prince Vladimir are being held in Kiev on 27-28 July. According to the schedule of events, published on the website of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, after the liturgy at 12.00 (the time coincides with Moscow time), a procession of the cross with many thousands of people is planned from the central entrance of the Vladimir cathedral to the monument to Holy Prince Vladimir. Patriarch Filaret is leading the procession.
Also a solemn prayer service is being held on the square in front of the monument to Prince Vladimir on Vladimir Hill. Filaret is preaching a sermon to believers. At 17.00 on Vladimir Hill an expanded session of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations is being conducted, with the participation of the leadership of the government. In the evening, at 21.30 an artistic program performing choral works by Ukrainian composers, from medieval to modern times, is being held on Mikhailov Square.
Today in Ukraine there are three Orthodox structures functioning, of which only one, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate (UPTsMP), is canonical and recognized by all local Orthodox churches of the world. The two others—UPTsKP and UAPTs—have been requesting for more than two decades recognition of their legitimacy, with the support of political authorities.
On Tuesday, the UPTsMP is conducting a divine liturgy in its church, the Kiev caves lavra. According to information from UPTsMP, yesterday more than 20,000 persons participated in a procession of the cross from Vladimir Hill to the Kiev caves lavra. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 July 2015)
SEVERAL THOUSAND PERSONS GATHER FOR PATRIARCHAL SERVICE IN HONOR OF DAY OF THE BAPTISM OF RUS
Interfax-Religiia, 28 July 2015
Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill on Tuesday, the Day of the Baptism of Rus, performed the liturgy in the church of Christ the Savior.
Personnel of the security service of the church told an Interfax-Religiia correspondent that several thousand persons assembled for the service. Members of delegations of all 15 local [i.e., national—tr.] Orthodox churches participated in the service.
In his sermon during the liturgy the patriarch pointed out that modern humanity has created "idols much more horrible than Kiev's Perun."
"Some propose to liberate themselves in such a way as to do everything that I want and they bow down to sensual pleasures, consumerism, and egoism. If problems arise along the way to the achievement of these goals, these problems can be solved from positions of such a world view of almost any ways and means," he said.
"If we do not surrender our history and culture which arose on this ideal [Holy Rus—IF] and absorbed this ideal and do not turn to these same idols, then we will have hope for the future and for the construction of a peaceful and just life," Patrirch Kirill added.
After the liturgy and a prayer service to the holy prince, the patriarch consecrated banners in honor of the Baptizer of Rus, which will be delivered to dioceses of the Russian church. The clergy, led by the primate, also sang "Many Years" to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is celebrating the day of his angel today.
In Russia and the countries of the CIS the holiday is being celebrated especially ceremoniously since it coincides with the year of the 1000th anniversary of the death of Prince Vladimir.
In 2010, by order of the president, the Day of the Baptism of Rus, 28 July, was proclaimed a state memorial date. In 2008 the predecessor of Patriarch Kirill, Alexis II, established the tradition of the celebration of the Day of the Baptism of Rus in Kiev. However in 2014, for the first time in these years, the chief ceremonies for the holiday were held not in Kiev but in Moscow.
The reign of Vladimir in Kiev began in 978. Before the adoption of Christianity he had many concubines. On Old Kiev Hill, next to the prince's palace, "idols" were set up: Perun, Khors, Dazhdbog, Stribog, Semargl, and Mokosha, to whom sacrifices were performed, including human sacrifices.
Researchers have noted that the Christianization of Rus was the result of the religious aspirations of the prince and also had political causes; in particular it was driven by the necessity of consolidating Rus and its entry into the family of Christian states.
This historical event was preceded by the so-called survey of faiths, described in the "Tale of bygone years." It describes how representatives from Muslims (the Volga Bulgars), Latins, Jewish Khazars, and Byzantium visited Vladimir.
In response, the prince sent embassies to the Bulgars, Latins, and Greeks "to experience their service." The Russian ambassadors were amazed by the beauty of the Greek worship service in Tsargrad, which also predetermined the prince's choice. It is also possible that he was influenced by his grandmother, Princess Olga, who by this time was already a Christian—the first of Russian rulers.
Before his baptism in Korsun (Kherson), which according to the most common version occurred in 988, the prince besieged the city for nine months, and then he demanded the surrender to him of Anna, sister of the Byzantine emperors, after threatening a military campaign against Tsargrad. These persons persuaded Anna to marry the prince, on condition of his baptism. According to his biography, at that time the prince was smitten with blindness which passed away miraculously after his baptism.
After returning to Kiev with his wife, Vladimir destroyed the pagan sanctuaries and baptized the Kievans with the help of Greek priests and he established in Kiev a metropolitanate of the Constantinople patriarchate and opened several episcopal sees, including in Novgorod, Belgorod (suburb of Kiev) and Chernigov. The prince also ordered the building of wooden churches, providing generous donations to the nascent Russian church. Under him the first monasteries and institutions of church courts were established. The minting of gold and silver coins was begun. Prince Vladimir is portrayed on them sitting on a throne in ceremonial vestments with a cross in his hand.
Prince Vladimir died in 1015 in his country residence of Berestov and he was buried in the church of the Tithe in Kiev, the first stone church of Rus. During his lifetime he donated to this church a tenth portion of his income, hence the name of the church. The beginning of church veneration of the prince pertains to the 11th century and in the 12th century he was mentioned in liturgical texts for the first time, and at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries his iconography was established.
In the 15th century the veneration of the holy prince acquired the characteristics of ecclesiastical and political celebration and in the time of the Russian empire it acquired governmental character. In 1825, during the visit to Sevastopol by Alexander I the decision was made to build a church in Kherson in memory of the Baptism of Rus. In 1842, on the initiative of Admiral Mikhail Lazarev, it was decided to build a cathedral in the name of Prince Vladimir on the central hill of Sevastopol. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 July 2015)
PUTIN: SIGNIFICANCE OF BAPTISM OF RUS DIFFICULT TO OVERESTIMATE
Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks that it is difficult to overestimate the holidays being celebrated today marking the Day of the Baptism of Rus and the events on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the repose of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Prince Vladimir.
Speaking at a reception in honor of these events, the head of state noted that Grand Prince Vladimir, the Baptizer of Rus, led nations to the attainment of faith and spiritual support. This, he stressed, is impossible to overestimate. In his opinion, these events are the key turning point in the history of the state and culture.
The president noted that this holiday today is being celebrated by representatives of all traditional religions of Russia, since the state of Russia "as a great state was always built on a multinational and multiconfessional foundation."
Putin added that today it is possible to realize the special scale of the personality of the grand prince and the full significance of his activity. "The prince was destined to become a great sovereign," the president said.
He noted that the vision of Prince Vladimir and his activity "served as the source of the creation of Russia as a unique state. He built the country on love for the fatherland." He said that the country was built on "the serious spiritual reflections of Prince Vladimir and on the striving to create a single foundation capable of uniting the peoples of Rus and uniting disparate lands. He put an end to infighting and crushed the foreign foe."
The president noted that Prince Vladimir laid the foundation by creating a single Russian nation and actually laid out the road to the construction of a strong centralized Russian state. "Rus firmed up and conducted on equal bases a conversation with its neighbors, with eastern and with western neighbors," Putin added.
The head of state said that Prince Vladimir led his native land to its cultural and economic development; he was a wise and far-sighted ruler of Rus.
The Russian president noted that the spiritual springs still nourish the fraternal Slavic peoples of Russia, Ukraine, and Belorussia. He emphasized that all the customs of all peoples and all traditional religions are treated with respect in Russia.
Patriarch Kirill also spoke at the reception. He noted the enormous significance of the baptism of Rus and the activity of Grand Prince Vladimir. The patriarch continued that with the baptism of Rus Vladimir established fundamentally new rules of conduct. He explained that whereas previously murder was considered a just deed, with the baptism of Rus it became clear "what is good and what is evil, what is permitted and what is not." "Unfortunately iniquity continued even further," Kirill continued, "but the halo of dignity and permissibility fell from them." "Prince Vladimir proved that God's truth is higher than human glory and wealth," he said.
The patriarch noted that Christian values lie at the foundation of the culture of Russia, determining not only the lyricism of prayers but both culture and music." The patriarch added that today, "against the backdrop of tragic events, the necessity of strengthening the unity and mutual support of the Slavic peoples has become clearer."
In conclusion he greeted the president with the dual name days according to his personal name and patronymic [Vladimir Vladimirovich], emphasizing that "Holy Prince Vladimir helps everyone who bears his name and glorifies him with deeds." (tr. by PDS, posted 28 July 2015)
RPTs URGES NOT TO TURN PRINCE VLADIMIR INTO "BAPTIZER OF UKRAINE"
The head of the synod's Information Department of the Moscow patriarchate, Vladimir Legoida, urged not to turn Prince Vladimir into the person who baptized only Ukraine, since this belittles the role of the prince who stood at the sources of sovereignty of all Rus and its system of values.
The 1000th anniversary of the day of the repose of the baptizer of Rus, Holy Prince Vladimir, is being marked in 2015 in Ukraine, Russia, and Belorussia. At the same time, in a February decree on conducting memorial events, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called Prince Vladimir "the creator of the medieval European state of Rus-Ukraine."
"When today some, so to speak, thinkers of the grand prince, whom church tradition considers equal to the apostles by comparing his feat with the feat of those who spread Christianity in the Roman empire, try to make some kind of local leader who, it turns out, baptized not Rus but, for example, Ukraine, or some other single ethnic group, this, of course, belittles the role of Prince Vladimir," Legoida declared in an interview with RIA Novosti.
He said that the millennium of the death of Prince Vladimir permits modern Belorussia, Ukraine, and Russia to again return to the sources of their common history, to the choice of Christianity, which "preordained the formation of their culture in a broad sense, not just literature and art, but also economics and legal consciousness with all of its distinctives."
"The personal choice of Prince Vladimir became the civilizational choice of Kievan Rus," and the prince himself was an exceptional figure for Russian civilization, a man "who stood at the sources of Russian statehood and the system of values of historical Rus," the news agency's interlocutor thinks.
On Tuesday in Moscow representatives of 15 local Orthodox churches are participating in holiday events for the 1000th anniversary of the repose of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. In Kiev, ceremonies that began on Monday with a prayer service at the monument to the prince on Vladimir Hill are continuing with a liturgy in the Kiev caves lavra. In Crimea, mass baptisms will be conducted in the sea and river. In Minsk, people are uniting in a common Orthodox holiday. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 July 2015)
PRIESTS: POROSHENKO SEPARATED SELF FROM PEOPLE BY NOT COMING TO LAVRA ON 28 JULY
The fact that Ukrainian authorities preferred to attend the liturgy of the schismatic Kiev patriarchate on the day of the 1000th anniversary of the memory of Prince Vladimir and did not come to the liturgy in the Kiev caves lavra of the UPTs of the Moscow patriarchate is not in any way surprising and it testifies to their rift from their own people. This is the opinion expressed to RIA Novosti by clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church who had previously ministered in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, with his wife, attended on Tuesday a liturgy in the Vladimir cathedral, the chief church of the Kiev patriarchate (which is not recognized in the Orthodox world), which was performed by the head of the UPTsKP, Filaret. Metropolitan of Kiev and all-Ukraine Onufrey, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow patriarchate, on this day led the liturgy in the Kiev caves lavra, with the participation of representatives of the Bulgarian, Polish, Romanian, and other local churches. Representatives of the Ukrainian government were not at this liturgy.
According to an ex-secretary of the Odessa diocese of the UPTsMP, the current rector of the church of the Life-Giving Trinity on Vorobiev hills, Archpriest Andrei Novikov, the current authorities in Kiev have often attended services in churches of the Kiev patriarchate or the Greek Catholic Church.
"The fact that they did not come (to the Kiev caves lavra—ed.) is their evidence of their own rift with their own people. They do not represent people living in Ukraine but foreign forces that now are controlling the Ukrainian government," the priest declared.
At the same time, he noted that the Orthodox Church does not strive for the presence of the authorities. "The principled position of the RPTs and the UPTs is that the church cannot serve the current interests of some political forces. The church has eternal guidelines, through the prism of which it observes what is happening in society," the news agency's interlocutor said.
Evaluating Poroshenko's presence at the liturgy with the head of the UPTsKP, Filaret, Archpriest Andrei Novikov also expressed the opinion that on the president's part this was his own kind of "positive response to 'patriarch' Filaret," in particular, who had earlier visited the USA and discussed with its leadership questions of the positioning of weapons in Ukraine.
"Unfortunately, it was a choice for war. But we are praying for a just peace, in which all people have the right to pursue their own aspirations and hopes. . . . The church opposes aggression. It can support the people, but it never supports war," Novikov added.
At the same time he urged church hierarchs "not to make any compromises." "One should not think that after saying some compliment to that authority and after blessing, God forbid, the National Guard or presenting a church medal to a schismatic, they will calm someone down. These authorities do not need attention or proof of something. They only need the liquidation of the canonical church and its replacement with a controlled and directed political church," the priest declared.
In his turn, the famous church publicist and evangelist Archpriest Andrei Tkachev, who was forced to emigrate to Russia from Kiev in 2014, noted that Poroshenko, who preferred to celebrate the Day of the Baptism of Rus in a church of the Kiev patriarchate "is logical and consistent in his actions."
"Fortunately the church is ruled not by governmental ranks and structures but by the Lord Jesus Christ, who was resurrected from the dead. The church has now entered a serious field of difficulties and trials: priests are being shot, churches are being confiscated, flammable liquids are being thrown into them. At the head of the church in Ukraine is a man of prayer (Metropolitan Onufrey). He will call the people to pray that they survive these troubles. These troubles must be survived by the people of God through prayer," Tkachev said.
In his turn, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk met on Tuesday with the heads of the Ukrainian churches in the jurisdiction of the Constantinople patriarchate: Metropolitan Yury (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada) and Metropolitan Antony (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA), with whom, according to information from the press service of the cabinet of ministers, he discussed "problems of Christian unity in Ukraine." (tr. by PDS, posted 28 July 2015)
POROSHENKO BOWS TO MIRACULOUS ICONS OF MOTHER OF GOD IN KIEV CAVES LAVRA
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on 28 July, the Day of the Baptism of Rus, bowed to eight miracle-working icons of the Mother of God, which had been brought to the Kiev caves lavra for the 1000th anniversary of the repose of Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir.
As the Center of Information of UPTs reports, the head of state arrived at the Kiev caves lavra with his wife, where they were met by the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Onufrey, and UPTs chancellor, Metropolitan Antony.
We recall that eight miracle-working icons of the Mother of God were brought for celebrations on 27-28 July in Kiev: the "Peski" Mother of God (from Izium, Kharkov province); the "Pochaev" Mother of God (from Pochaev, Ternopol pr.); the "Kasperov" Mother of God (from Odessa); the "Zemnee" Mother of God (from Volyn); the "Akhtyrka" Mother of God (from Akhtyrka, Sumi pr.); the "Sviatogorsk" Mother of God (from Sviatogorsk, Donetsk pr.); the "Support the humble" Mother of God (from Kiev) and the "Berdiansk Three-hand" Mother of God (from Berdiansk, Zaporozhe pr.). An icon of Holy Prince Vladimir, with portions of his relics, also was set up for veneration by believers. The simultaneous visit to Kiev of these holy items was arranged by the UPTs within the framework of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the death of Prince Vladimir. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 July 2015)
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