Terrorism victims remembered in prayer at Moscow’s Church of Saint Catherine
On Friday, September 11, 2009, the eighth year anniversary of the horrendous terrorist attack on the US in New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania, Archimandrite Zacchaeus, Representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the Moscow Patriarchate celebrated a memorial service [panikhida] the for innocent victims of terrorism throughout the world.
Participating in the service, which was celebrated at Saint Catherine the Great Martyr Church, the Moscow Representation of the Orthodox Church in America, were Mr. John Beyrle, the Ambassador of the US to the Russian Federation; Mr. Vladimir I. Yakunin, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Saint Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Centre for the National Glory of Russia; Mr. Alexander P. Torshin, the First Deputy of the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia; Mr. Andrei G. Karlov, the Chairman of the Consular Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA): Mr. Valery F. Kenyaikin, the Chairman of the Department for Relations with non-Governmental, Religious and Public Organizations of the MFA; Mr. Vladimir P. Ivanov, the Deputy Director of the Federal Migration Service for the Capital City of Moscow; Ambassadors of over 20 Sovereign World Nations; representatives of the Russian State and Moscow City governments; and many others.
Photograph courtesy www.st-catherine.ru |
A very special guest at this year’s service was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, Mr. Carlos Morales Tronkoso, who was on his last day of an official governmental visit to Russia, yet made it a point to rearrange his schedule specifically to participate in the memorial for the victims of terrorism at Saint Catherine’s.
Prior to the beginning of the memorial service, Archimandrite Zacchaeus addressed the assembly with a brief sermon on the importance of preserving the memory of the innocent victims of terrorism. He then invited everyone to join together in prayer during the panikhida, which was served in both Church Slavonic and English.
At the conclusion of the service, Archimandrite Zacchaeus offered words of gratitude to those gathered for their participation and show of solidarity in the important task of witnessing to the evils of world terrorism. He then invited US Ambassador John Beyrle, Mr. Vladimir I. Yakunin, Mr. Alexander P. Torshin, and the honored Foreign Minister Tronkoso to offer words to the assembly.
Following the very sincere words of support by the guests, everyone was invited to ring the memorial bell encased in the memorial shrine to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the US which is located in the church courtyard. The bell was jointly rung first by Archimandrite Zacchaeus, US Ambassador John Beylre, and Mr. Vladimir I. Yakunin as a symbolic gesture of Church, government, and non-governmental organizations joining together in honoring the memory of the many innocents who lost their lives at the hands of terrorists, not only in the US and Russia, but throughout the world. May their memory be eternal!
Likewise, those who were hoping to attend this year’s service, but were unable for reasons beyond their control, sent their written greetings to Archimandrite Zacchaeus expressing their regrets and support for hosting such an important event at Saint Catherine Church. These included the Minister of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation, Sergei K. Shoigu; the Chairman of the Russian State Human Rights Committee and former Ambassador to the US, Vladimir P. Lukin; the First Deputy of the Russian Foreign Minister, Andrei I. Denisov; and the Chairman of the Moscow City Government’s Committee on relations with Religious Organizations, Mr. Mikhail O. Orlov.
A photo gallery of the event may be found here.