UGCC Bishops in Kazakhstan prayed for the victims of Stalinist political repressions

During May 20-29^th, members of UGCC Permanent Synod of Bishops are visiting Kazakhstan.  Their goal is to familiarize themselves with the current life of UGCC faithful and to hold work meetings of the Synod.

On the first day the Synod Fathers, led by UGCC Head His Beatitude Sviatoslav, visited places related to the past and the present of Ukrainians in Kazakhstan.  In particular, the Synod members visited the Spas Memorial Cemetery where the victims of various nationalities of Stalinist political repressions are buried.  Almost twenty monuments built on the places of mass burials remind one of the tragic fates of tens of thousands of prisoners of the communist regime who found their final resting place in the steppes near Karaganda.

UGCC Church head placed flowers at the Ukrainian monument on which are carved out the words: “To the sons and daughters of Ukraine.  We bow our heads to those tortured in hard slavery.  Ukraine will not forget you.”  Then the gathered held a Memorial Requiem Service for Ukrainians who died in Stalinist camps located in Kazakhstan.

Together with His Beatitude Sviatoslav, there prayed at the graves of the innocent dead, members of the Permanent Synod who accompanied UGCC Head on this trip – bishops: Volodymyr (Viytyshyn), Ivano Frankivsk Archbishop and Metropolitan; Yaroslav (Pryriz), Sambir-Drohobych Eparch;  Ken Novakivsky, New Westminster Eparch; Borys (Gudziak), Eparch of Paris Eparchy of St. Volodymyr the Great for Ukrainians of the Byzantine Rite in France; Bohdan (Dziurakh, Secretary of UGCC Synod of Bishops.

Visitors from Ukraine were guided by Rev. Vasyl Hovera,  Apostolic Delegate for the Greek-Catholics in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, Rev. Kyryl Hryhoriev,  assistant at the Parish of the Intercession of the Blessed Mother in Karaganda, Sister Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Anastasia Balinsky, Tetiana Holovchak, Volodymyra Zazuliak from the Monastery of the Holy Family of Karaganda and Mr. Volodymyr Okun, the son of repressed Ukrainians and a long-term assistant at the Parish of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

There was a poignant moment when during the Memorial Requiem Service cranes appeared in the sky above the cemetery and circled several times over the Ukrainian supplicants, contributing their craning sounds to the words of prayers of the gathered, said on that day for their innocent victim compatriots.

During the afternoon the members of the Permanent Synod visited the Ukrainian Center in Karaganda and held Vespers in the local Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Mother. While visiting the Ukrainian Center, UGCC Head thanked all who were involved in its creation and continue to support its activities and expressed his wishes that the Ukrainian community in Karaganda continues to expand and transmits to its children and youth knowledge about their homeland and love for Ukraine.

On Tuesday, May 21^st, the Working Session of the Permanent Synod will begin and it will last until Thursday, May 24^th.  Also the schedule of the Permanent Synod includes numerous meetings, particularly with Roman-Catholic bishops, UGCC clergy in Karaganda, as well as with laity and youth.

On Saturday there will be observed a Day in Memory of Bishop Oleksandr Khira, a confessor of faith and a prisoner of many years in Karlag (the Karaganda Reformatory Camp). On Sunday, May 26^th, members of the Permanent Synod will visit various UGCC communities in Kazakhstan.

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