“Nothing can compare with the significance of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, who led Rus' to the Orthodox faith”translated

On July 28, 2026, on the day of remembrance of Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, the day of the church-state holiday of the Baptism of Rus', His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill performed the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. At the end of the service, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church delivered a sermon.

Your Eminences and Eminences! Dear fathers, brothers and sisters!

I congratulate you all on the great holiday - on the day of remembrance of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, the builder of Rus', at whom Baptism took place, the churching of our people, and who was preserved in memory as the prince who turned our people, our country, Rus', from pagan captivity to the Orthodox faith.

Secular historians note the names of statesmen, scientists who influenced the development of science, art and other aspects of life. But nothing can compare with the significance of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, who led Rus' to the Orthodox faith, and at the same time to the highest culture inherited from Byzantium, the very culture on the basis of which the culture of Russia, the Russian Empire, subsequently developed.

Our modern culture...