MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - Patriarch...
God, not the Kremlin," and "Ukraine needs its own church."Speaking to thousands of believers after leading a prayer by the statue of Vladimir I of Kiev, who converted to Christianity in 988 and baptized the medieval state of Rus, Kirill said Kiev was like Jerusalem to Russia and Ukraine.
"I came here as a pilgrim... to touch the 1,000-year old history of our Church."
He said that during his visit to Ukraine he would pray for peace and prosperity in the country and the "unbreakable unity" of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. He said that he and Yushchenko would discuss the role of religion in the lives of people and "what needs to be done to ensure peace in and around Ukraine."
Yushchenko told reporters ahead of the visit that he would discuss creating an independent church for Ukraine with the Russian patriarch.
Kirill will stay in Kiev, which he also calls "the southern capital of Russian Orthodoxy," until Wednesday and will lead two services
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