On November 1, 2004, Cardinal Liubomyr Huzar, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Maryan Yavorksy, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine celebrated a liturgy for the dead at the graves of Ukrainian and Polish soldiers at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv. The joint service was attended by priests of the Orthodox churches and representatives of the Lviv Oblast Administration. The action was organized by Ukrainian Catholic University and Yi, the independent cultural affairs magazine.
“A tradition is effective and meaningful only if it is continuous,” chief editor of Yi Taras Vozniak wrote in an announcement about the joint prayer service. “Even in the most complicated moments of our current history we should remember that the basis of our democratic development is international tolerance and common historical memory.”
After the service and laying of flowers on the Polish soldiers’ graves, the procession moved to the memorial to the soldiers of the Ukrainian Galician Army, where another service was celebrated and more flowers were laid. In their respective speeches at the Polish and Ukrainian soldiers’ graves, Cardinal Maryan Yavorsky and Cardinal Liubomyr Huzar spoke about the fine tradition, which has existed for only three years, of praying together for fallen soldiers on the first day of November. In the speakers’ opinion, this should serve as an example to follow and a means to reconcile the two peoples.
Cardinal Huzar also said that those buried at the cemetery had once fought against one another, and now we, their children and grandchildren, after all these decades have come to pray together for the peace of their souls. With time we have understood that if we want to reach the happy future, we have to walk together. “This is why this meeting is so special. I hope that both our joint prayers and joint march toward a better future will become a stable tradition,” said the head of the UGCC in closing.
