Uniate Priests led a Procession in Memory of Bandera and “Heroes of Kruty”

Monument to the “heroes” of Kruty erected by the Orangies in 2006. This was a minor and inconsequential skirmish where ragtag Galician guerillas were easily crushed by organised Russian forces. Is this the best that they can offer? Sad…

At the end of last week in Ivano-Frankovsk (Stanislavov), Uniate priests took part in events to commemorate the award of the title of Hero of the Ukraine to OUN leader Stepan Bandera and in memory of the so-called “Heroes of Kruty”. Around 500 young people, led by priests, held a candlelight procession on the main street of the town to Memorial Square. They lit their candles from candles brought by a delegation from the village of Stary Ugrinov in Kalush raion, the birthplace of Bandera, where they lit a “Fire of Glory”. Once they reached the square, near the graves of Sich Riflemen and OUN-UPA guerrillas, the clergy served a Pannikhida for the repose of the “Heroes of Kruty”. Speaking at the meeting, Viktor Anushkevichus, the mayor of Ivano-Frankovsk, in particular, said, “The feats of the heroes of Kruty motivated those who joined the OUN and UPA, their example inspired the valour of Hero of the Ukraine Stepan Bandera. This is our history; we need to know it, that we were opposed to the Communist-Bolshevik régime. Today, all the heirs of those who destroyed Stepan Bandera and destroyed the UPA lift up their heads; they do not recognise the UPA and destroy everything Ukrainian in the Ukraine”. Objective historians describe those who died in the little-known and minor skirmish of Kruty on 30 January 1918 as Galician nationalists {Only 400 untrained and poorly-led troops fought on the “Ukrainian” side, while there were less than 4,000 involved on the Red side. 300 of the ragtag Galicians were killed, with only inconsequential losses to the Red forces: editor}. The current “Orange” government declared them heroes, for they saw them as not only anti-Communists, but also anti-White Guard, opposing both the Russian church and Ukrainians who were in favour of a continuing union of Russia and the Ukraine.

1 February 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=34007

Memorial Cross in Krasnoyarsk Erected on the Site of the Great Siberian Ice March of Kappel’s White Army

Lieutenant General Vladimir Kappel (1883-1920), one of the heroes of the White Guard in the Russian Civil War

Residents of Krasnoyarsk region banded together to erect a memorial cross on the bank of the Kan River, on the ice of which the White Guard troops led by Lieutenant General Vladimir Kappel retreated from Krasnoyarsk during the Great Siberian Ice March in 1920. The exact place of the location of the cross was chosen with the aid of historians and ethnographers. During this retreat, General Kappel fell into an opening in the ice, contracted pneumonia, and died. In addition, many of his troops suffered from exposure and frostbite, one of the organisers told Interfax on Monday. Archpriest Dmitri Smirnov, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies served a Litiya for the Departed at the site of the cross and blessed the monument.

1 February 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=34000

Head of the DECR and the Chancellor of the MP are made Metropolitans

Archbishop Mark Golovkov of Yegorevsk (1964- ), the Secretary of the MP on Relations with Foreign Parishes. This self-effacing man is truly competent and well thought of. He’s my man… not the strutting popinjay Alfeyev… make mine Mark, and make it straight up, please.

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On Monday, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias raised Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk, the Chairman of the MP Department for External Church Relations, to the rank of Metropolitan. As reported by our Interfax-Religion correspondent, at the Divine Liturgy on Monday at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour celebrating the first anniversary of the enthronement of Patriarch Kirill, Archbishop Varsonofy Sudakov Archbishop of Saransk and Mordovia, the Chancellor of the MP, was also made a Metropolitan. In addition, Patriarch Kirill elevated Bishop Mark Golovkov of Yegorevsk, the Secretary of the MP on Relations with Foreign Parishes, and Bishop Yeliesei Ganaba of Surozh, the ruling bishop of the MP diocese in Britain to the rank of Archbishop. More than 3,000 believers attended the service in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. President Dmitri Medvedev and his wife, members of the public, and several hundred priests from Moscow and parishes in other Russian regions were present.

1 February 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33992

Editor’s Note:

This, like much surrounding the Blunder, is much less than it first appears. For instance, both Nikodim Rotov and Philaret Denisenko, equivocal figures both, were raised to the white hat at younger ages than the Blunder was. It doesn’t matter what his formal title is, in any case. Officially, he’s only a “Vicar of the Patriarch”, with no diocese (his only authority is over a single parish on Bolshaya Ordynka Street). Of course, SVS shall make much of this, but they’re known members of his faction, so obsequious toadying from them is both expected and forgettable. Note well that Bishop Mark is now an Archbishop… he has more actual power than the Blunder has. The Blunder’s the most ambitious of the hierarchs; he’s the most vigorous self-promoter of the lot. The fact that SVS fawns on him is a clear sign of their shallowness and vapidity… he merely possesses a slick website; his actual achievements are few, indeed. I’ll put my money on Archbishop Mark… he’s a man to watch.

BMD