Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has wished peoples of the historical Rus to preserve their spiritual unity."St. Vladimir's Hill is a symbol of our common spiritual source, a symbol of Orthodoxy on our land and the spiritual values we accepted in our Christianization," the patriarch said after the Saturday prayer service he conducted to mark the 1,025th anniversary of Christianization of Kievan Rus.
Approximately 1,000 people, among them the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia and heads and clerics of the local Orthodox Churches, attended the service.
"In a sense, we are celebrating both the 1,025th anniversary of our history, which dates back to baptism in the Dnieper River, and the 25 years, which have passed since celebrations of the millennium anniversary. It has been a period of new baptism of Rus and transformations in the life of our people and our Church," he emphasized.
The patriarch welcomed the chiefs of state who attended the prayer service.
"We are rejoicing at you standing here all together. This means you are involved and our peoples are involved not only in this anniversary as a fact of history but also in everything Christianization has brought to our land," Patriarch Kirill said.
This celebration unites the people of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova and "illuminates the path of our joint historical existence," he said.