During the official ceremony, addresses were delivered by Nikolai Patrushev, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Maritime Board; Vladimir Medinsky, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Russian Military Historical Society; Alexander Grushko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Admiral Alexander Moiseyev, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy; Andrei Artizov, Head of the Federal Archival Agency; and Alexei Levykin, Director of the State Historical Museum. A message of greeting from Olga Lyubimova, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, was also read out.

The DECR Chairman conveyed to those present the greetings and blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’. In his address, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk emphasized that the reunification of the Metropolia of Kiev with the Russian Orthodox Church was a major historical event that restored historical justice and contributed to strengthening the unity of the Church and the commonality of the peoples of Rus’.

An important contribution to the reunification of the Church was made by the outstanding Russian diplomat Yemelyan Ignatyevich Ukraintsev, whose 385th birth anniversary is commemorated in 2026. In 1684, this statesman successfully negotiated the consecration of Gedeon (Sviatopolk-Chetvertinsky) as Metropolitan of Kiev and the subsequent return of the Metropolia of Kiev to the jurisdiction of the united Russian Church.

These events of more than three centuries ago resonate with the present day, the DECR Chairman stressed: the importance of preserving the unity of Orthodoxy in the lands of historical Rus’ and the unity of the peoples who emerged from the baptismal font of the Dnieper remains no less relevant today. Canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine is currently facing persecution by the authorities and nationalist forces, but the hierarchs, clergy and faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are courageously resisting the schism being imposed from outside.

Metropolitan Anthony also touched upon another theme of the event — the 330th anniversary of the founding of the Russian Navy, which ensures the country’s foreign trade and protects its interests. Historically, however, the Russian Navy also contributed to the mission and spread of Orthodoxy in the Far East and Alaska, thereby facilitating the further preaching of the Orthodox faith on the American continent.

Among those attending the event were Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, Adviser to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’; Archpriest Igor Vyzhanov, Deputy Chairman of the DECR; Archpriest Sergiy Zvonaryov, DECR Secretary for the Affairs of the Far Abroad; Priest Alexander Yershov, Aide to the DECR Chairman; Priest Fyodor Shulga, Aide to the DECR Chairman; ambassadors of foreign states; and other invited guests.

The ceremony featured performances by the Central Concert Exemplary Navy Orchestra named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov and the Moscow Synodal Choir.

The exhibition features unique artefacts from the 17th and 18th centuries, including a precious gold mitre made in 1685 in the workshops of the Armoury Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin and presented by Peter I to Metropolitan Gedeon IV of Kiev; a 1686 charter of Patriarch Dionysius IV of Constantinople concerning the transfer of the Metropolia of Kiev under the authority of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’; the 1700 peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire, which confirmed Russia’s possession of the city of Azov and part of the coast of the Sea of Azov; as well as the silver medals “In Commemoration of the Capture of Azov, 1696” and “In Commemoration of the Establishment of the Russian Navy, 1696”.