“I hope that God will definitely help me visit the Ukrainian land again, pray with Kievans and probably in other cities, too. The patriarchal service has nothing to do with politics and political conflicts, and the patriarch’s word always carries peace. This is exactly how I see the meaning of my visits to Ukraine,” the patriarch said at a meeting with Ukrainian children at the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow.
He recalled that in the recent past he travelled to Ukraine every year, “even several times [a year].”
“I am very fond of Ukraine and have always had many Ukrainians by my side,” the church primate said.
The Russian Church is praying for “peace to come to the Ukrainian land as soon as possible, so that people can return to their homes, for the fraternal relations to be restored between those who today are on the opposite sides of the conflict,” the patriarch said.
