KIEV, July 28 (RIA Novosti) - The head of...

Ukraine is a predominantly Orthodox country, but the Orthodox Church in the ex-Soviet state split in the 1990s. The larger branch of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, which has 10,000 parishes in the country, is loyal to the Moscow Patriarchy.

President Viktor Yushchenko and other top officials have backed independence from Moscow for the unrecognized Orthodox Church under the Kiev Patriarchate against the backdrop of tensions in ties with Russia.

Speaking after a church service devoted to Prince Vladimir, who baptized medieval Rus 1,021 years ago, Patriarch Kirill invited clergy and believers to pray for those who split, so that they may "abandon their sinful illusions and join us joyfully and with pure hearts."

The patriarch led an open air service in the Kiev Laura, the birthplace of Russian Orthodoxy, with thousands of believers attending and flocking to the walls of the cathedral.

A group of Ukrainian nationalists outside the monastery cried out protests against

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