Przemyśl, Poland, May 4, 2022
Photo: orthodox.pl
The 75th anniversary of the tragic Operation Vistula was solemnly commemorated in the Polish Orthodox Church on Sunday, May 1.
The main liturgical commemoration within the Diocese of Przemyśl and Gorlice was held at the Holy Dormition Cathedral in the southeastern city of Przemyśl. The Liturgy was presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Paisjusz with the help of local clergy, reports the Polish Orthodox Church.
Operation Vistula was a codename for the forced resettlement of Ukrainians, Boykos, and Lemkos from southeastern Poland to the Recovered Territories in western Poland in 1947, carried out by the Polish communist authorities, who argued that the resettled peoples were supporters of the brutal nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which was responsible for several massacres of Poles and other atrocities. About 141,000 civilians were forcibly moved from late April to late July, 1947.
Photo: orthodox.pl
Abp. Paisjusz addressed the faithful after the reading of the Gospel:
Today, with bitterness and pain penetrating our hearts, we remember the tragedy of Operation Vistula. 75 years ago, once again in history, an attempt was made to destroy our Church and nation by the hands of the communist authorities… Tens of thousands of the faithful of our Orthodox Church, inhabitants of southern Podlasie, the Chełm, Subcarpathia, and Lemko regions, were expelled from their native land…
Let us remember that without the memory of history, we will never understand the present, we won’t understand our Church and nation. Let us remember that the purpose of the deportation was one: to cleanse the lands from centuries of faithful to the Cyril-Methodian tradition of faith, tradition, culture and the language of our ancestors…
In our prayers, we remember our grandfathers, fathers, and brothers who never lost their faith, who didn’t renounce their traditions and weren’t ashamed of their language. Let us imitate their faith, in the words of the Apostle Paul, thanks to which we remained Orthodox. Let us educate our young people and children in the spirit of the faith and tradition, so that they’ll know their history…
His Eminence also referred to the current tragic situation, with thousands of Ukrainians taking refuge in Poland and elsewhere, calling on the people to continue to be faithful to the Church, tradition, culture, and history, “which we have received as the most precious gift from our ancestors—the Operation Vistula Golgotha martyrs.”
Photo: orthodox.pl
The Divine Liturgy was followed by a Paschal procession and a panikhida for the victims of Operation Vistula and the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp in Jaworzno.
And the cathedral rang out with cries of “Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!”
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