On Sunday, May 16, 2021, the day of commemoration of the victims of political repressions in Ukraine, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the UGCC, offered a funeral prayer for hundreds of thousands of innocent people killed in Bykivna, Kyiv. The memorial service was attended by: Bishop Bohdan Danylo, priests, nuns, seminarians. The prayer took place near the Bykivnia Graves memorial complex, where, according to the Head of the Church, one can understand the scale of the repressions.
In his speech, His Beatitude Sviatoslav stressed the importance of revealing the truth about the brutal crimes of the Soviet regime. Such a memory and truth are, in his opinion, life-giving and liberating.
"The world learned the truth about the crimes of the Nazi regime when it saw concentration camps in Central and Western Europe, when horrific scenes of mass graves opened before the eyes of modern humanity. The Nazi regime was justly condemned. Instead, the victims of communist terror were not properly honored. The world has not yet seen the scale of this crime. That is why this ideology continues to kill to this day,” the Head of the UGCC said.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav shared the testimony of a captured Ukrainian soldier, who during one of the last prisoner exchanges expressed his conviction that everything that is happening in Donbas today is a consequence of the fact that communism was not condemned, debunked, and criminals were not punished.
"There was no repentance for the sin of communism, so we are here today," said the Primate.
According to him, it is necessary to remember these crimes so that they never happen again.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav also thanked the researchers of the graves of the victims of Stalin's repressions.
Reference
Bykivnia Graves National Historical and Memorial Reserve is a reserve of national importance, the largest burial place in Ukraine for victims of mass political repressions of 1937–1941. Located in the Dnieper district of Kyiv, 1.5 km from the former village of Bykivnia. The territory of Bykivnia Graves is almost 239 hectares and is the largest burial place in Ukraine for victims of Stalinist repressions.