Many commemorate the Holodomor tragedy

Catholics and Orthodox remember the 'Terror Famine' with a memorial service and a 'hungry lunch'

Father Gabriel Haber, OSBM, Father Edward Danylo Evanko, Ukrainian Orthodox
priest Father Mykhaylo Posdyk, and Father Yuriy Vyshnevskyy lead the
congregation in a panakhyda (memorial service). Photo by
Nathan Rumohr / The B.C. Catholic.

Recently The B.C. Catholic joined many Lower Mainland Ukrainians to commemorate the Holodomor tragedy at St. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church:

"The world should know about the Holodomor," said St. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church president Anatoly Ciacka, "just like the Jewish Holocaust. We don't want to have this happen again in Ukraine."

The Ukrainian community came together Nov. 24 in a show of Christian unity for Holodomor Memorial Day. Both Orthodox and Catholics met at New Westminster's St. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church for a ceremony.

Ciacka has a personal connection to the tragedy: the Soviets forced his grandparents off their farm, leaving them to starve to death.

"It was a death sentence. They would they throw you out to die; they didn't even have the mercy to kill you," he said.

From the winter of 1932 through 1933 Ukrainian farms were collectivized under the communist system. Failure to comply meant imprisonment or execution.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.