Metropolitan Volodymyr Issues Address on 1000th Anniversary of St. Sophia Cathedral

The press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate published an address of its head, Metropolitan Volodymyr, on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the foundation of the St. Sophia Cathedral. The hierarch stressed in the address that “the Cathedral of the Wisdom of God in Kyiv is the cathedral of the Church of the Kyivan Rus, whose successor is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The cathedral was built according to the plan of the Baptizer of Rus, Holy and Equal to the Apostles Prince Volodymyr by the efforts of our enlightener, the Holy Prince Yaroslav the Wise.”

According to the document, the St. Sophia Cathedral is one of the most outstanding shrines of world Orthodoxy, a unique treasure of our culture, art, architecture, a majestic monument of history reflecting the milestones of tragedies and Church and people.

“The Cathedral of Sophia in Kyiv was not only of church importance but of national importance. It was here that the great Kyiv princes received blessings for their reign. The cathedral became the sepulcher of the great princes. The square in front of the cathedral was the place of gathering of the people’s assembly. Unfortunately, the breach of the Christian testament of the holy Princes Volodymyr and Yaroslav of the unity of the Kyivan Rus and brotherly love by the descendants led to division and feuds which shook the 'golden table' of the Kyivan princes, and only the Sophia metropolitan cathedra continued to keep the Rus lands within the jurisdiction of Kyiv as the spiritual center for a long time,” said the metropolitan.

“With the collapse of the godless regime, prayer started to come back to the Cathedral of Sophia. It was in the Sophia of Kyiv that Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all Russia granted the Tomos on independence and self-government to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 1990. But, unfortunately, the divide of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy and the tragic conflicts and confrontations of 1990, 1993, 1995 connected to Sophia, suspended the process of the return of the church to the cathedral. The workers of the National Historic and Cultural Reserve have done much to preserve the ancient church complex, however, a shrine lives its true life only when prayer is heard within its walls. We pray that the lamp of the liturgical life should be lit in the Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom of God of the Kyivan Metropolitans,” reads the address.

According to Metropolitan Volodymyr, the preservation of the cathedral is a joint project between the state and church.