In Lugansk Patriarch Kirill honours memory of those who died in Great Patriotic War

On September 15, 2011, after the liturgy in Theatre Square, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia proceeded to the Square of Great Patriotic War Heroes.

He was accompanied by Metropolitan Ioanniky of Lugansk and Alchevsk, Lugansk Governor V. Pristiuk as well as members of the official delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church and local officials.

At the Square of Heroes the Primate of the Russian Church laid wreaths at the Pylon of Glory and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. ‘Eternal Memory’ to those who fell for the Motherland was sung at each memorial.

Then Patriarch Kirill addressed the Great Patriotic War veterans, saying, ‘It is not known now which struggle is more important, that which was waged with the enemy in those hard years or now when the memory of the war is being distorted while your heroism is presented as actions which have led to something bad. Therefore, nothing can be compared now to your word. You are the witnesses and thus the most vivid and convincing testimony to those events’.

Patriarchal Press Service/DECR Communication Service

Photos by the Patriarchal Press Service