An Ecumenical Prayer Service for World War II victims was held in Lviv

Thursday, 10 May 2012, 21:15

On 8 May 2012 various religious confessions joined in a communal prayer service in Lviv’s Yaniv Cemetery at “Three Crosses” -- the burial site of unidentified WW II victims. The prayer service was organized by the UGCC Commission on Justice and Peace together with the organization Ukrainian Youth for Christ. Among the participants were representatives of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Armenian Apostolic Church, Evangelical Christian Baptists Vifaniya, Lviv Society of Political Prisoners, City Council, youth organizations and UGCC Pastoral Care for Armed Forces.

On 8 May 2012 various religious confessions joined in a communal prayer service in Lviv’s Yaniv Cemetery at “Three Crosses” -- the burial site of unidentified WW II victims.

The prayer service was organized by the UGCC Commission on Justice and Peace together with the organization Ukrainian Youth for Christ. Among the participants were representatives of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Armenian Apostolic Church, Evangelical Christian Baptists Vifaniya, Lviv Society of Political Prisoners, City Council, youth organizations and UGCC Pastoral Care for Armed Forces. At the end of the memorial services for the repose of the souls of the victims, community members shared their reminiscences and conceptualizations of WW II events. Vasyl Kosiv, Vice-Mayor for Humanitarian Issues, Lviv City Council, offered an important commentary. He stated, in particular, that this event, although probably the smallest in terms of size of all events taking place these days in Lviv, stands out as the most momentous in terms of its content and significance. Oleksandr Savchenko, representing the Evangelical Christian Baptists, emphasized the importance of perceiving the war events in light of Christ’s redemptive deeds, as possibilities of forgiveness, healing and channeling one’s own efforts toward mutual reconciliation and harmony. Rev. Oleh Luka, an adviser to the UGCC Commission on Justice and Peace that initiated this year’s All-Ukrainian commemoration of the Day of Remembrance, invited the audience to contemplate the three main stems of both internal and external individual and societal development. They include – love as the source of all goodness; thus, a communal prayer is a good way to foster this stem. Love enables the potential of forgiveness, as an element of nurturing and healing the individual as well as all the past and present moments which can be painful and perturbing. These two create a trajectory, which by virtue of its own natural process, leads to peace and reconciliation.

Secretariat, UGCC Commission on Justice and Peace