Print This Post

With the blessing of His Beatitude Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, Moscow Mayor S. Sobyanin has been awarded the Order of St. Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles, Class I, in acknowledgement of his support in organizing the celebrations marking the Day of the Baptism of Rus’, which was observed on July 28, 2011, in the capitals of Ukraine, Russian and Belarus. The award was presented to Mr. Sobyanin by Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl, abbot of the Kiev Laura of the Caves.

Mr. A.Omelyanenko, a member of the international organization ‘The Day of the Baptism of Rus’, has been awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, Class II.

Participating in the awarding ceremony, which took place on October 8, at the Metropolitan’s Residence in the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, were Archbishop Alexander f Pereyaslavl-Khmelnitsky, Mr. A. Popov, head of the Kiev administration, and members of the Day of the Baptism of Rus organization, the official website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has reported.

* * *

The Day of the Baptism of Rus’ has been celebrated in Kiev since 2008 when it was the 1020th anniversary of the baptism in the Dnieper waters. The 28th of July is declared as a special commemoration day in Ukraine (since 2008) and in Russia (since 2010). The Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations has been one of the organizers of the festivities. This year, the commemoration day of St. Vladimir the Baptizer of Rus’ was marked in Kiev, Moscow and Minsk by a First International Festival.

DECR Communication Service