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On July 28, 2010, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine took part in the opening of an exposition on the Heritage of the Holy Prince Vladimir organized by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, National Historical and Cultural Preserve of the Kiev Caves, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the New Era public political association.

Patriarch Kirill was welcomed at the exhibition building by the Preserve’s general director Ms. M. Gromova, the New Era chairman D. Shvets, and Abbess Serafima Shevchik, head of the Ukrainian Synodal Department for Church and Culture. Children clad in folk costumes gave flowers to the Patriarch.

Welcoming the Patriarch, Ms. Gromova said that for the first time all the exhibits will be presented to the general public.

Speaking in response, His Holiness Kirill thanked the general director of the National Preserve for the invitation to visit the exhibition. He said in particular, ‘I have never been to this part of the Kiev Laura of the Caves. When you set foot on this holy land, you receive a strong inner charge which is impossible to receive in any other place, because concentrated here is our entire millennium-long tradition beginning from the baptism of Rus’ to this day with all its joys and sorrows and all that has been experienced by the great people of Holy Rus’. It is remarkable that historical treasures and traditions are preserved here. God grant that the Dormition Laura of the Caves may remain a spiritual center of Holy Rus’ under any circumstances, preserving the cultural and historical heritage’.

Patriarch Kirill and Metropolitan Vladimir also celebrated the blessing of the bells for the church of the Most Holy Mother of God at Zaporozhskaya Sech. The bells had been brought over to Kiev for the purpose.

DECR Communication Service/Patriarchal Press Service