Patriarch Kirill, who heads the Russian Orthodox Church and oversees the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), boasts millions of followers in Ukraine. The leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) led a procession in Kyiv to Saint Volodymyr’s statue on July 28 to mark the 1,022-year anniversary when Kyivan Rus was baptized.

President Viktor Yanukovych, a follower of the Moscow-based Orthodox church, was invited but did not attend.

Patriarch Filaret kicked off church celebrations on July 27, which culminated in a festive liturgy at the Volodymyr Cathedral followed by a procession of more than 5,000 believers to the temple of the monument to St. Volodymyr, the Kyiv prince who in 988 baptized lands under his rule.

In addition to modern day Ukraine, these regions included what is today much of Belarus and European Russia.

Vacationing in Crimea in between high-level meetings, Yanukovych participated in a religious service at St. Volodymyr Cathedral in the Crimean city of Khersones. Legend has it that Prince Volodymyr the Great was baptized there.

Yanukovych has given public attention to the dominant Russian Orthodox Church since being sworn in as president and even held a private ceremony with the church’s patriarch on the day of his inauguration in February.

Patriarch Kirill, who heads the Russian Orthodox Church and oversees the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), boasts millions of followers in Ukraine. He chose to cap off his week-long pastor’s trip to Ukraine at Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, on July 28.

Unlike Filaret’s service, Kirill’s procession was televised live on the First National TV Channel, a sign that the current Ukrainian leadership favors the Moscow-led Orthodox Church.

In contrast, experts say, Ukraine’s previous president, the pro-western Viktor Yushchenko, called for all domestic Orthodox churches to unite but demonstrated favoritism towards the Kyiv Patriarchate.

Arriving on July 20, Kirill has also visited Odesa, Crimea and Dnipropetrovsk.