May 31, 2009
Freewood Acres, NJ: Remembrance of Lienz Tragedy
On June 1,
1945, at the conclusion of the most terrible war in the history of
mankind, in the mountain town of Lienz, over 20,000 Cossacks were
rounded up and handed over to death in the Soviet Union. By tradition,
the Kuban Cossack Voisko Abroad commemorates the victims of this
tragedy every year on the nearest Sunday to June 1. On Sunday, May 31,
on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers, worshippers gathered at St.
Vladimir's Cemetery in Jackson, NJ for a panihida at St. John's
Chapel. Archpriest Serge Lukianov, rector of the chapel, served the
panihida along with Deacon Leonid Roschko. Commemorated at the service
were “every Cossack, all those who without fault were murdered at
the hands of the lawless in the city of Lienz, all those given over
unto death at the hands of the cruel godless ones, and all those who
laid down their lives, who in prisons and in camps suffered and were
killed.” Fr. Serge addressed the faithful with a short sermon on the
need for all of us to be daily witnesses to the holy Christian faith,
not permitting evil to beguile its way into the norm, especially on
account of our silence. At the end of the panihida, all those in
attendance returned to the Cossack hall in Freewood Acres for a
commemorative luncheon. The ataman delivered a speech outlining the
importance of this day, and announced that next year, the 65th
anniversary of the tragedy will be commemorated in Lienz, Austria, and
that a delegation from the Voisko will take part. Toward the end of
the luncheon, all those in attendance who had survived those terrible
and sorrowful events gathered for a photograph in front of the large
painting, “The Extradition of the Cossacks at Lienz.” Memory
eternal and eternal rest to all of the fallen at Lienz! Click here
for photos from the services and the luncheon.
Official website of
St. George's Church
Freewood Acres, NJ
www.stnicholasredbank.org
