Baptism of Rus’ Procession Draws Hundreds of Thousands Faithful Ukrainians (+Video)

Pravoslavie ^ | 7/28/21

[marshmallow]

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s annual cross procession on the eve of the Baptism of Rus’ drew its largest crowd ever this year.

According to preliminary calculations, more than 350,000 Ukrainian faithful took to the streets to honor St. Vladimir the Equal-to-the-Apostles, who baptized Rus’ in the Orthodox faith, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Borsypil and Brovary, the Chancellor of the canonical Ukrainian Church, reported in the briefing following the procession.

The day began with a moleben on St. Vladimir Hill at 1:00 PM in Kiev. Then the procession, headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, made its way to the Kiev Caves Lavra, where the All-Night Vigil for the feast of St. Vladimir was served.

“Today, more than 350,000 people took part in the procession,” Met. Anthony said, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists. “These are the initial calculations: We’ve already started the service, it’s already half over, and people are still just now leaving St. Vladimir Hill.

“Today is a great joy. Yoday we see the fruits of preaching and the fruits of the Baptism of Prince Vladimir. After 70 years of communist persecution and 30 years of increasing and decreasing oppression, the current Church is alive and lives in its fullness. The Church gathered at the monument to Prince Vladimir to testify its loyalty to the UOC, led by His Beatitude Onuphry. This is the joy of communion. This is the joy of being in unity,” reflected His Eminence Archbishop Jonah of Obukhov.

[Jimmy Valentine]

Vladimir also commissioned the Church of St. Sophia, a beautiful Byzantine designed church in 1199. Worth a visit to Kiev just to see it.