The head of the Russian Orthodox Church is urging the followers of the splinter Ukrainian church to reunite with the powerful Moscow patriarchate.
Patriarch Kirill’s appeal Tuesday to the worshippers of the breakaway church to “return to the father’s house and unite with us” again indicated he will not allow the creation of an independent church in Ukraine.
Kirill made the statement after prayers marking the 1,021st anniversary of the Slavic world’s conversion to Christianity.
Ukraine’s pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko is leading a campaign to win recognition of the Kiev Patriarchate, which broke away from Moscow in the 1990s, as a legitimate independent church. Moscow strongly opposes those efforts.
