Requiem service in the Church of Christ the Savior for the victims of the terror attacks in America
22.10.2001 · English, Архив 2001
REQUIEM SERVICE IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST THE SAVIOR FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE TERROR ATTACKS IN AMERICA
October the 20th, 2001, marked forty days since the tragic death of thousands of people in the terrorist actions in New York, Washington and near Pittsburgh.
On this day, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, the Divine Liturgy for the rest of the souls of the victims and a requiem service for the killed innocent people, among whom were also Russian citizens, were held by Metropolitan Sergius of Solnechnogorsk, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, at the Church of Christ the Saviour.
Present at the service were representatives of the US Embassy in Moscow and relatives of victims.
“Thousands of innocent people were killed by the insanity of those who want to rebuild the world after their own fashion”, said His Eminence Sergius, addressing the congregation. He reminded them of the pre-revolutionary period in the Russian history when high-ranking governmental officials and even Russian emperors and members of the August Family became victims of terrorist actions. “Terrorists tried to obtain democratic freedoms from the authorities, but only weakened the state. As a result the country found itself under the communist yoke for 70 long years. Lying in the basis of terrorism is always malice, but nowadays the face of terror has changed, for now it kills not individuals or even groups of people, but multitudes. Terrorists do it to horrify and spread panic and thus achieve their goals”, he said.
Answering questions from journalists after the service, Metropolitan Sergius noted that not only the Orthodox who were killed in the terrorist attacks on the New York sky-scrapers were commemorated in prayer in the Church of Christ the Savior, but all the victims of the acts of terror. “A person who leaves life unexpectedly deserves our special attention and prayer. God is the Judge of all, and He will decide the fate of every one, but we ardently pray to Him for all the victims”, he said and specified that the Church did not pray for the kamikaze terrorists because they were not only self-murderers but also murderers of thousands of people.
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