Russian Orthodox Church Leader Arrives in Ukraine

On Monday, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill,  arrived in Kyiv for a visit.

Several dozen priests led by Ukrainian Metropolitan Volodymyr met Kirill at Kyiv's airport.

To celebrate Volodymyr's 75th birthday, the patriarch brought a Loving Kindness icon, a supposedly miracle-working icon showing the Virgin Mary caressing a baby Jesus. The icon will be displayed in Kyiv churches until Dec. 6.

"It is a great holy item that St. Serafim of Sarov had in his monastic cell. He prayed before this icon and died before this icon," Kirill told reporters.

The icon was rescued when the Monastery of St. Serafim in Diveyevo was ravaged and nuns from Diveyevo kept it in Murom, a town in Russia's Vladimir region, after which a priest took it over and kept it before it was returned to the church.