Service in remembrance of the victims of mass famine in the USSR

On 21 November 2008, a memorial service for the victims of mass famine in the republics of the former Soviet Union in the 1930s was celebrated in the Moscow Church of the Live-Giving Trinity on Vorobiev Hills at the suggestion of the Embassy of Ukraine in Russia and with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

Clerics of the church Very Revd. Konstantin Georgievsky, Revd. Alexander Antipov, Revd. Ioann Dragan and a staff member of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Revd. Igor Yakimchuk celebrated the memorial service ‘for all who died of famine in the years of godless government.’ In his address to the worshippers before the memorial service Revd. Igor underscored that tragic death of famine of the millions of people in the republics of the former USSR followed because of the policy of the godless power that had tried to destroy our people’s traditional way of life inseparably linked with faith. He noted that the Church united all people, both the living and the dead, irrespective of their nationality, citizenship, and social status. ‘We are brothers and sisters before God, and therefore we must pray for the dead and not allow division between the living,’ Revd. Igor said.

Ukrainian diplomats, representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian public attended the divine service, after which a commemoration repast was offered in the Embassy of Ukraine.

Divine services in remembrance of the victims of mass famine are celebrated every year with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia in many Russian cities as well as in the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in foreign countries.