Ukrainian Orthodox Church-MP to Build New Church Complex in Kyiv

KYIV – Construction has begun in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, of what will be Europe’s largest Orthodox church. The Resurrection Cathedral, 120 meters high and capable of housing 5,000 worshipers, will belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). It will have three altars and a four-level belfry. The future church complex will include a residence for the metropolitan, a seminary, a TV studio, and a hotel for pilgrims, reports the Kyiv Post with reference to the Voice of Russia on April 6, 2010.

According to the site of the UOC-MP, on April 4, at the construction site of the Resurrection Cathedral the head of UOC-MP, Metropolitan Volodymyr, performed Paschal Vespers. It should be noted that this day in the capital city the evening service was performed only in the place of construction of the Christ's Resurrection Cathedral.  

Before the Divine Service, as a blessing of the construction beginning of the main cathedral of the UOC-MP, laying of the capsule into the foundation of the future cathedral was carried out.  Attending the solemn ceremony were also Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, Vice Prime Minister Volodymyr Seminozhenko, and deputy city mayor of Kyiv Anatoliy Holubchenko. 

Thus, following the prayer service the primate laid the memorial capsule into the cathedral's foundation, and the concelebrating hierarchs together with high officials put the stone reliquary with the saints' relics. In particular, there were the pieces of relics of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, Hieromartyr Volodymyr (Bohoyavlenskyi), of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon, of the Venerable Fathers of the Kyiv Caves, and the pieces of incorruptible relics of the other saints from the home church of the UOC-MP primate.