MOSCOW — On the eve of the 1^st anniversary of his enthronement as patriarch, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) gave an interview to the 1^st Channel of Russia describing the political situation in Ukraine.

According to Orthodoxy in Ukraine, the head of ROC stressed that during his visit to Ukraine he saw a completely different Ukraine, “not the one we see on TV screens,” and an Orthodox people who cannot even imagine a division of the church. 

“People in the east and west met the patriarch by the thousands. As for the protesting groups, they were party groups. All the protests were under the flag of one political party. So what? Some like tea with lemon, some with sugar. Some are pleased about the patriarch’s visit, some not. It is normal. But the mass, mass support showed us that we are really one church,” said Patriarch Kirill.

“And for me the Ukrainian people are my people,” he noted as he stressed the importance of the preservation of spiritual unity with complete respect for sovereignties.