MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Church, arrived in Ukraine's capital on Monday for what he called a "pilgrimage" to the birthplace of Russian Orthodoxy.
While in Kiev, Kirill will visit holy sites and meet with President Viktor Yushchenko before touring eastern and western Ukraine, and the Crimean peninsula. His visit to the country will last for 10 days.
Ukraine is a predominantly Orthodox country, but the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is divided, with the Moscow Patriarchy controlling the larger branch of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. Yushchenko, who has pursued pro-Western policies and sought to reduce Russian influence in the country, has advocated unifying Ukrainian Orthodox churches under the Kiev Patriarchate.
The patriarch was met at the airport by Ukraine's top church official, Metropolitan Volodymyr, and other church hierarchs, and opposition party leader Viktor Yanukovych. A choir of seminary students sang by the plane.
Several dozen protesters gathered outside the airport in Kiev as Krill arrived. Wearing yellow and blue clothes, the colors of Ukraine's national flag, they held up banners saying: "We serve to God, not the Kremlin," and "Ukraine needs its own church."
Speaking to thousands of believers after leading a prayer by the statue of Vladimir I of Kiev, who converted to Christianity in 988 and baptized the medieval state of Rus, Kirill said Kiev was like Jerusalem to Russia and Ukraine.
"I came here as a pilgrim... to touch the 1,000-year old history of our Church."
He said that during his visit to Ukraine he would pray for peace and prosperity in the country and the "unbreakable unity" of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. He said that he and Yushchenko would discuss the role of religion in the lives of people and "what needs to be done to ensure peace in and around Ukraine."
Yushchenko told reporters ahead of the visit that he would discuss creating an independent church for Ukraine with the Russian patriarch.
Kirill will stay in Kiev, which he also calls "the southern capital of Russian Orthodoxy," until Wednesday and will lead two services in the Kiev Laura, one of the oldest monasteries in Ukraine and Russia, meet with Ukrainian church officials and believers, pay tribute to the victims of Soviet-era famine Holodomor, which the Ukrainian authorities say was genocide of the Ukrainian people, and give a live television interview.
The patriarch is likely to receive a warm welcome in the Russian-speaking east, but nationalist groups in Ukraine's west have protested against what they call the patriarch's treatment of Ukraine as part of Russia.
Speaking to Ukrainian journalists ahead of the visit, Kirill said this would be a pastoral, rather than political, visit.
Billboards showing Patriarch Kirill have been placed along the road from the airport into the capital, and in the city. Other posters prepared for the visit feature Yushchenko and Patriarch Filaret, head of the Ukrainian church, which is not recognized by the Moscow Patriarchate.
Around 300 have gathered to demonstrate against the visit near the Kiev Laura, where the patriarch is expected to arrive to hold a session of the Holy Synod, the Russian Church's governing body.
Protesters are holding flags and slogans saying: "An independent church to Ukraine!", and "Out with the Moscow colonist priest!"
However, 2,000 supporters flocked to the St. Vladimir statue to welcome Kirill, a RIA correspondent reported. Their banners read: "Let us preserve the 1,000-year-old unity of our Church!" and "Kiev is the mother of Russian cities."
Police are separating protesters and supporters after a clash between a group of nationalists and kossacks.
The visit will be the longest foreign trip so far by Patriarch Kirill, who was elected to replace the late Alexy II in February.
