Paul KeenanLeader had battled cancer
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is mourning the loss of its leader, Patriarch Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine. The patriarch, who was 78, had been ill with cancer for some time.
Born in 1935, Vladimir Sabodan entered the Orthodox seminary in Odessa in 1962. In 1966 he was appointed deputy head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and shortly afterwards became Bishop of Zvenigorod. Elevated to archbishop in 1973, he became rect5or of the Theological School of Moscow. Two years later, he was appointed Exarch of Eastern Europe, and in 1987 he was appointed chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate and permanent member of the Holy Synod. In 1992, he assumed the role of Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In 2011 he was awarded the title "Hero of Ukraine" for his contribution to the rebirth of Orthodoxy in Ukraine and was awarded the order of St Alexis.