St. Volodymyr's Parish

This appeal is in solidarity with the initiative of the Community Committee to Commemorate the Victims of the Holodomor-Genocide of  1932-33 in Ukraine .  The Committee includes prominent community and art activists, scholars, and representatives of Ukrainian Churches. "We ask you to express your own good will and join together with others from your place of worship in this All-Ukrainian joint effort,” states the Appeal.

People are being urged to organize in their church communities work on putting into order the mass graves of those who perished during the years of the Holodomor and are frequently located on village lands of Ukraine.  One can place a wooden cross with an embroidered cloth and organize remembrance services in their churches on the 80^th anniversary of Holodomor (November 23, 2013).

Heads of Ukrainian Churches appeal to the faithful and people of good will to join in organizing an All-National Day of Remembrance in Kyiv: "To delegate representatives from the church community to pay respects to the memory of perished family members and co-patriots, by joining the remembrance efforts on November 23^rd between 2 and 5 pm. by the National Museum – A Memorial to the memory of victims of Holodomors in Ukraine in its capital, says the document.

 "A unification of society around spiritual ideals, community self-organization and mutual support – these are a good haven under conditions of political and economical crises,” argue the writers of the appeal. 

Particularly, the Church Primates address their appeal to those who evoke trust and respect from people, possesses wisdom and life experience.

Let us remember that this year Ukraine and the world will commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the memory of the victims of the Holodmor - Genocide of 1932-33.  This tragic page remains an unhealed wound in the history of our people.  The memory of millions of lost lives, the pain of hundreds of thousands of families, unites most of the citizens of Ukraine, who always on the fourth Saturday of November light a candle of remembrance and go to the memorial places in Kyiv and in their cities and villages.  This memory actively contributes to social peace and understanding among people, united by a shared pain about the past and a hope for the future.

The Appeal by the Heads of the Churches was delivered at a press conference in Kyiv by the representatives of the Community Committee to Commemorate the Holodmor-Genocide of 1932-33 in Ukraine:  Rev. Oleksa Petriv, head of the UGCC Department of Public Affairs, Bishop Yevstratiy Zoria, Secretary of the Synod of UOC-KP, and Yevhen Sverstiuk, the nation’s conscience. 

source: UGCC Department of Information