Kiev, November 30, 2017
Photo: uoj.org.ua A special panikhida for the millions who perished at the hands of the godless authorities in the 1932-1933 Holodomor famine was celebrated on November 25 in all churches and monasteries throughout Ukraine, according the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
The Holodomor was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine that killed an estimated 7-10 million people. It was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1932–33, which affected the major grain-producing areas of the country.
A state ceremony in memory of the victims also took place at the National Museum in Kiev, in which participated His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary, and His Eminence Archbishop Clement of Irpin.
The ceremony was also attended by President Petro Poroshenko and other public officials, and included a minute of silence and the lighting of candles in memory of all the many victims.
In the Izium Diocese, on Mt. Kremenets, near the memorial cross erected in memory of Holodomor victims, a memorial litiya was celebrated. Panikhidas were also held in Kherson, Nizhyn, Mukachevo, Volhynia, and the other dioceses, and in all churches and monasteries of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the same day.
The victims of the Holodomor are commemorated annually in Ukraine on the fourth Saturday in November.
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew also released a message in commemoration of the Holodomor, which reads in part:
It is with a heavy heart that we call to recollection one of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century, namely, the tragic events in Ukraine during the years 1932-1933. Today, our Ecumenical Patriarchate joins Ukrainians across the globe in prayerful commemoration on the 84th anniversary of the Holodomor. Surrounded by the members of our local Ukrainian Orthodox Community and representatives of various nations serving in our City, we will preside over the celebration of the Divine Liturgy as well as personally offer a memorial service for the millions of people who inhumanely lost their lives during the orchestrated man-imposed famine.
The patriarch’s message also included a plea to end the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine, not repeating the atrocities of the early 20th century.
