Bucha, Ukraine, June 20, 2022
Photo: news.church.ua
On Sunday, June 19, the feast of All Saints, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine served in Bucha and consecrated a memorial cross in honor of all those who died there.
“Arriving in Bucha, the primate served a memorial litia in the cemetery where the locals who died during the fighting and Russian occupation are buried,” and laid flowers at their graves, reports the Information-Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“Sorrow filled my heart,” Met. Onuphry said in April in response to the Battle of Bucha, which lasted more than a month, and reports of atrocities and war crimes committed there.
Photo: news.church.ua
After visiting the cemetery, the Metropolitan, together with seven other hierarchs and local clergy, then celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, where the liturgical life resumed on the feast of Annunciation, after Russian troops withdrew from the city. The church and other buildings on the territory were damaged by shelling on March 9.
During the Liturgy, His Beatitude “asked God for mercy to the Ukrainian people, so that the Lord would bring the authorities to reason, strengthen the courage of the soldiers, free the prisoners, heal the sick, and shelter those who are deprived of a home.”
Prayers were also offered for the repose of all residents, soldiers, and innocent victims who have died in Bucha and elsewhere during the war.
Photo: news.church.ua
Following the service, Met. Onuphry consecrated a memorial cross erected in the church courtyard in honor of the civilians who died in Bucha in February-April. In his archpastoral word, he expressed his respect to the residents of Bucha “who had endured the horrors of war and survived, for their love for God and neighbor, for not becoming embittered.”
On the same day, humanitarian aid was delivered to the city from His Beatitude’s charitable foundation “Peace to You.”
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