Ecumenical Patriarch to celebrate vespers in St.Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv on July 25

Orthodox Church`s Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to celebrate vespers in St.Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv on July 25.

Ukrainian President’s Press Secretary Iryna Vannikova claimed this speaking about the plan of state measures on occasion of celebrating the 1020th anniversary of the Christianisation of the Kyiv Rus.

A statement from Constantinople recalls that "the Mother Church [Constantinople] . . . led the Ukrainian people toward baptism in Christ, [and] has decided to send its own delegation under the leadership of the ecumenical patriarch, to the celebrations that will take place from July 23rd to the 25th ".

According to Asia Pulse, with this gesture, Constantinople intends to seize the occasion to offer its own contribution to smoothing over the tensions within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, divided between Russians and Ukrainians. Because of authoritarianism and the impact of national contrasts, Ukraine sees its own Christian world divided into three churches.

Bartholomew`s decision to preside over the celebrations is highly criticised in Orthodox circles in Moscow.