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Editor’s Foreword:
For my non-Orthodox readers, it’ll clear up matters considerably if I mention that Orthodox say prayers for the dead on the third, ninth, and fortieth days after a person’s death. We believe that the fortieth day is the day when the soul undergoes “Particular Judgement”, thus our stress upon it.
BMD
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In Yaroslavl, memorial events on the fortieth day after the crash of Yak-42 carrying the Lokomotiv hockey team began with services at the Assumption Cathedral. Later, a memorial concert occurred at the hockey arena…
About 6,000 people attended a memorial ceremony dedicated to the dead hockey players and staff of the Lokomotiv team. The ceremony was held on Sunday in Yaroslavl at the Arena-2000 arena, as it was the fortieth day since the tragic death of the athletes. The audience listened to music by Igor Butman and Yuri Bashmet and other musicians. Almost half of the audience held lit candles; the hall was almost full. The presenter told the audience the story of the achievements of each of the dead players. As he came to each player’s name, spotlights played on the ceiling. The highlight of the ceremony was when all the pupils of the team’s hockey school went out on the ice… some 300 skaters… from the smallest to the oldest. Three young hockey players carried a torch into the arena, and lit a memorial flame. “This flame will be kept at the club and we’ll bring it out for every match”, said Aleksandr Sakhanov, the PR manager of KhK Lokomotiv. Earlier, in Yaroslavl’s Assumption Cathedral, there was a memorial service for those killed in the plane crash; Metropolitan Panteleimon Dolganov of Yaroslavl and Rostov led it. About 500 people were at the liturgy, those present included both relatives of the victims and leading figures from Yaroslavl Oblast, along with emergency first-responders who were involved in the rescue operation. At the beginning of the ceremony, a woman fainted, and doctors gave her medical assistance in the church’s narthex. Other attendees at the services aided the doctors.
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Some music from saxophonist Igor Butman…
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Click here for a five-minute vid (in Russian) from Pervy Kanal (Channel One)
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and some more from Yuri Bashmet…
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Nearly all of the kin of the dead were at the memorial at the church… the parents of Daniil Sobchenko and Vitaly Anikeyenko’s mom came from Kiev, the wife of head coach Brad McCrimmon came from Canada, and all of the former players showed up too. After the service ended, the crowd went to the Leontevskoe Cemetery to visit the graves of the hockey players, then, they went to the arena for the secular memorial ceremony. Tickets for the ceremony cost 500 roubles (16.20 USD. 11.70 Euros. 10.25 UK Pounds). Those who previously purchased tickets for Lokomotiv games, who didn’t turn them in after the tragedy, received free admittance. “All the money raised from ticket sales will go to the assistance fund for families of the victims of the crash”, said Yevgeni Chuev, the business manager of KhK Lokomotiv. After the concert, on the square in front of Arena, fans released paper lanterns and balloons into the sky in memory of their beloved team. On 7 September, a Yak-42, carrying team members of KhK Lokomotiv, crashed in Yaroslavl Oblast. From 45 people onboard, only Flight Engineer Aleksandr Sizov still survives, the crash killed all the players and team staff. Aleksandr Galimov lasted the longest… dying from burns sustained in the crash on 12 September.
16 October 2011
Voice of Russia World Service
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2011/10/16/58800671.html
