UPTsMP SOURCES SAY 250,000 PARTICIPATED IN THEIR PROCESSION BUT UKRAINIAN POLICE SOURCES CITE ONE-EIGHTH OF THAT NUMBER
Estimates of the number of participants in the procession of the cross of the UPTsMP in honor of the 1030th anniversary of the baptism of Kievan Rus, which proceeded on 27 July about the center of Kiev, from Vladimir Knoll to the Kiev caves lavra, differed extremely significantly. As a Portal-Credo.ru correspondent reports, the Ukrainian television channel Inter, citing an official representative of UPTsMP, published information about 250,000 participants in the march, but law enforcement agencies speak about 30,000.
According to the calculation of the Portal-Credo.ru correspondent, who attended the prayer service performed by the primate of the UPTsMP, Metropolitan Onufrey, at the monument to holy Prince Vladimir on Vladimir Knoll, from 30 to 50 thousand persons assembled there. At the same time, one cannot rule out that some of the worshippers were outside of the boundaries of the park and another portion joined the procession of the cross along its route. According to the head of the information and enlightenment department of the UPTsMP, Archbishop Kliment, when the head of the procession reached the lavra, its tail was still at Vladimir Knoll, a distance of more than three kilometers.
Representatives of the UPTsMP continue to insist that authorities of various regions of Ukraine raised obstacles to an organized arrival in Kiev of clergy and laity of this church for participating in the procession of the cross. At the same time, the Union of Orthodox Journalists, which is close to the Moscow patriarchate, circulated information that UkrZalianitsia even provided special vehicles for transporting pilgrims.
The procession of the cross was accompanied by sacred items: parts of relics of saints, the Equal-to-the-apostles Prince Vladimir, the holy martyr Clement of Rome, the great martyr George the Conqueror, the apostle Andrew the First-called, and the Zimnee Icon of the Mother of God. After the conclusion of the procession they were exhibited in the refectory church of the Kiev caves lavra, where they will be accessible for veneration all night on 28 July.
Despite predictions, no provocations or confrontations of any kind were observed during the procession of the cross. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 July 2018)
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