The Head of UGCC presides over a Panakhyda for the victims of the Holodomor Genocide
On November 25, Ukraine and the world commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor Genocide of 1932–1933. On this occasion, the Father and Head of the UGCC led a memorial service at the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide in Kyiv.
A memorial prayer for the innocently starved Ukrainians was held at the Bitter Childhood Memory statue.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav was joined in prayer by Bishop Yosyf Milian, Auxiliary Bishop of the Kyiv Archeparchy, representative of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Archbishop Agapit, abbot of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, priests of the Kyiv Archeparchy of the UGCC, and numerous members of the public.
The prayer was accompanied by singing from seminarians at the Kyiv Three Saints Theological Seminary.
After the memorial service, at 16:00 Kyiv time, the nationwide commemoration “Light a Candle” began.
In the morning of the same day, November 25, His Beatitude Sviatoslav took part in a prayer service together with the leaders of churches and religious organizations of Ukraine and the military and political leadership of the state, which occurred in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
This year, Ukrainians are commemorating the victims of the Holodomor genocide for the second time amid an ongoing all-out war in which Russia is engaged in genocidal actions against Ukraine. On the night before the Holodomor Memorial Day, the enemy launched a record number of attack drones at Ukraine.
On the occasion of the ninetieth anniversary of the Holodomor-Genocide, the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC in Ukraine issued a separate appeal to the clergy, monastics, and faithful, in which it noted that the empire failed to kill Ukraine 90 years ago. Still, the descendants of the murderers were determined to complete what their predecessors had not attained.
“As in those evil times, in the name of the millions of victims of the Holodomor and their memory, we call on our faithful and all people of goodwill to solidarity and mutual assistance in confronting the fierce enemy. We ask for a more active dissemination of the truth about the war in Ukraine around the world so that the enemy’s propaganda falsity does not find a place in the hearts of people,” the synodal fathers urged.
