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The church: redivided sphere of influence on the government level
Today, on August, 24, the day of Ukrainian independency, the Prayer for Ukraine took place in the St. Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev. It was headed by Patriarch of Kiev and All Ukraine Filaret. This information was presented by the official website of Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate.
Despite the fact that Ukrainian Constitution proclaims the separation of church and state, the Prayer for Ukraine had always been the part of traditional celebrations of Independence Day and had been held in The Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. Representatives of different confessions of Ukraine - members All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, including both Kiev and Moscow patriarchates, had taken place.
This year the leader of the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko (former Prime Minister of Ukraine) prayed with Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate. But the president Viktor Yanukovych with the Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and with the parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn prayed only with Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Patriarchate of Moscow. This fact provoked rage by the people from Kiev Patriarchate: of course, such a good chance to brainwash a lot of irreligious people is rare. But for reasonable persons there is no difference which church was chosen by the authorities - all in all this event has no sense.
