Bishop David and Bishop Ilarion conduct the Panakhyda. Photo: Marco Levytsky
Marco Levytsky, NP-UN Western Bureau Chief.
Ukrainian Catholic Eparch of Edmonton Bishop David and Ukrainian Orthodox Eparch of Western Canada, Bishop Ilarion, together with members of their clergy held a special joint Panakhyda (Memorial Service) for the innocent victims of war in Ukraine at St. Basil’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, March 26.
Responses were sung by the Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton.
A display of 136 pairs of children’s shoes was set up in front of a side of the Iconostas to symbolize the 136 children who had been killed by that date as a result of the indiscriminate bombing of civilians by the Russian aggressors.
“The prosecutor general of Ukraine said that war in Ukraine has killed 136 children in the 31 days since the start of the Russian invasion. Sixty-four children have been needlessly murdered in the Kyiv region alone These numbers are not just figures but the scale of grief and the broken destinies of hundreds of Ukrainian families. These children's shoes which we see here in church is a startling reminder of this incomprehensible human tragedy,” explained Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Alberta Provincial Council Director Lilia Pantelyuk Sokha.
“We are witnessing graphic images of massive destruction of Ukrainian cities and its civilian population. Mariupol, Chernihiv, Kyiv and Kharkiv are gruesome examples of such Russian bombings. Ukrainian authorities said on Friday that about 300 people were killed in a Russian airstrike last week on a Mariupol theatre that was being used as a shelter, which would make it the war's deadliest known attack on civilians yet,” she added.
The display included a picture of a two-year-old boy, killed during the bombing of Novi Petrivtsi, located 22 kilometres north of Kyiv, which was provided by his Godmother, Olena Shevchyk.
“This is not some son whose mother sent off to war knowing that he may not return but being proud of his choice and calling to defend the Fatherland. This is a son whom she still cuddled on her knees and embraced each night thinking about how he will grow up,” she told the gathering in Ukrainian.
“It is difficult for me to believe that the enemy does not respect the life of the old and small, that the enemy can take away a priceless life so unconscionably. And today I want to pray for the eternity of the soul of my two-year-old Godson. May his soul become a guardian angel and with it the souls of all the people who have been killed by the enemy people who call themselves brotherly. May they find peace and tranquility in the Heavenly Kingdom,” she added.
Special Guest and Speaker Oleksandr Danyleiko, Consul General of Ukraine in Edmonton delivered an emotional address in Ukrainian during which he stated how innocent people are killed and families are being torn apart – families that may never be reunited.
“They (the Russians) call this liberation. Liberation from what? From life? Liberation from faith?”
Their real aim is to revive the Russian Empire and destroy Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as an entity, he said.
“The Ukrainian people will never, never become a part of this evil empire,” Danyleiko declared.
Throughout centuries the Ukrainian people have had to struggle for their lives and existence but have not been broken.
“We will never surrender, and we will win this war. Unfortunately, that may be at a great cost, but we will win,” Danyleiko declared.
He was introduced by the Very Rev. Archpriest Cornell Zubritsky of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who said Danyleiko and his staff carry the burden and sorrow of dealing with a wartime situation.
Father Julian Bilyj, Vicar General of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton opened the proceedings quoting Patriarch Sviatoslav who noted that “today in Ukraine we see a huge disdain for human dignity. Humanity is being destroyed; the human being is being dehumanized”.
“In Ukraine, today, we see rivers of blood and seas of tears. With pain in our hearts, we see how in besieged cities, for example Mariupol, thousands of people are laid to rest without prayer, without Christian honour, without a Christian burial, in enormous, unnamed mass graves. How important it is for us today to express our respect for the bodies of those killed, whether soldiers or civilians! The bodies of our Ukrainian soldiers are met by our people on bended knee when they are returned to their towns, to their villages, to their families, said Patriarch Sviatoslav.
“For this reason, today, our Bishops, His Grace Bishop Ilarion and His Grace Bishop David have called all our faithful to pray this Panakhyda, the memorial service, for the dead as a sign of honour for those who have been killed on the lands of Ukraine as a result of this horrific war.
“Let us pray today for those over whom church bells did not ring, who were laid in mass graves without mourning. Let us pray for those over whom the Christian prayer for the deceased was not said. May their memory be everlasting!,” added Fr. Bilyj.
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