City of saints and sinners

It’s all a little bit disconcerting. Seemingly every road I turn into is blocked by stern-looking policemen. Groups of women in headscarves pour into park after park. And every poster and billboard in town seems to bear the face of an elderly, bearded man. It’s all about the history. Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, is regarded as the cradle of East Slavic civilisation - a far older city than St Petersburg or Moscow - and it is celebrating the 1020th anniversary of adopting Christianity. OK, it’s a slightly odd landmark, but that’s not stopped a cavalcade of Orthodox patriarchs, bishops and priests arriving. Any excuse to visit, it seems, and it’s hard to blame them. Read Article

By Keir David