Five years ago, on November 21, 2015, hundreds gathered at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York for an ecumenical requiem service and commemorative program dedicated to the memory of the Ukrainian Holodomor Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933.
The event was co-organized by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) and followed the official unveiling of the Holodomor Memorial in Washington that was on November 7. The event in Washington attracted 5,000 people.
Students of St. George Academy carried an image of the Washington Holodomor Memorial in procession through the center aisle of the cathedral. They were followed by students of the Samopomich School of Ukrainian Studies in New York City, who were dressed in Ukrainian embroidery, carrying candles and stalks of wheat. The Dumka Chorus of New York sang during the procession, as well as during the service.
Metropolitan Antony and Archbishop Daniel of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., and Bishop Paul Chomnycky of Stamford, Conn., and Bishop Emeritus Basil Losten of Stamford officiated.
Remarks were delivered by Metropolitan Antony, Tamara Olexy, president of the UCCA, and Lesia Kurylas, the design architect of the Holodomor Memorial in Washington. They were joined by William Pope, senior advisor for Europe to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, who read a statement from the White House, and Valeriy Chaly, ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S., Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev, permanent representative of Ukraine to the U.N., concluding with Bishop Paul, who read the benediction and a word of gratitude to Archbishop (now Cardinal) Timothy Dolan, for allowing the Ukrainian community to use the landmark cathedral for its Holodomor commemorations.
The commemoration concluded with the singing of the “Prayer for Ukraine,” led by the Dumka Chorus.
Although we may not be able to gather in-person for Holodomor commemorative events this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we look forward to a time when we are able to. In the meantime, commemorative events – including at St. Patrick’s Cathedral – continue to be hosted online (including the fifth anniversary of the unveiling of the Holodomor Memorial in Washington, https://youtu.be/bIeT44EL1Rk). The next Holodomor commemoration at St. Patrick’s is scheduled for November 20, 2021.
Source: “Hundreds gather at St. Patrick’s to pray for Holodomor victims,” Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, The Ukrainian Weekly, November 29, 2015.