Krynica Church Consecrated
The Orthodox Church of Saint Vladimir the Great, Equal-to-the-Apostles, located in Krynica, in the western part of the Lemko Region of southeast Poland, was solemnly consecrated on Sunday, September 8, 1996 by Metropolitan Vasylij of Warsaw, assisted by Archbishop Adam of Sanok and other hierarchs and 20 priests of the Orthodox Church of Poland. A banquet at a local restaurant followed the nearly 6-hour Hierarchical Liturgy. Over 900 people attended the services, even though it rained periodically all day long. The church of Saint Vladimir has been under construction for fourteen years, and some of the funding has come from Carpatho-Rusyns in the United States. On September 5, the second annual Moleben (prayer service) of Thanksgiving was sung in the Rusyn village of Ždÿnja, at the grave of the Priest-Martyr, Saint Maksym Sandovyè, where his relics are still interred. The Moleben was followed by a 2-hour Vigil service (Vespers & Matins) at Ždÿnja’s parish church. The Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Gorlice was the site on September 6 of a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy marking the second anniversary of Saint Maksym’s glorification. Twelve priests concelebrated the Liturgy. Father Daniel Ressetar (C-RS, Harrisburg, PA) was one of them, and he read one of the four Gospel readings in Church Slavonic. Father Dan graciously gave us this report on these events. Father Dan also reports that Mychal Sandovyè, grandson of Saint Maksym, is planning a museum in Ždÿnja which will showcase the cultural heritage of the Lemko Rusyn people and will chronicle the life and martyrdom of Saint Maksym.
Orjabyna War Monument
from L'ubovnianske' noviny (Stará L'ubovòa), May 30, 1996
In May, on the 51st anniversary of the liberation of Slovakia from Nazi occupation, a memorial was dedicated in Orjabyna's "Mir" park by the village mayor (starosta) Osyf Lešiga, honoring the soldiers of this Rusyn village who were casualties of World War II. Inscribed on the monument are the names of Orjabyna soldiers Bulyk, Bulko, Dudjak, Dzjadyk, Kormanyk, Kuzar, Marinèak, Martynjak, Njan'ko, Rejnjak, Šromovskÿj, Turkynjak, and the unknown soldier of the Czechoslovak army. Two other names were added: Mychal Strenk (Michael Strank), who was at Iwo Jima on March 1, 1945, and Mychal Grofik, an American pilot shot down in March 24, 1944 over the coast of Italy. Both these Rusyn soldiers had emigrated from Orjabyna to the United States with their parents in 1923.
Trouble at Uzhorod Border Crossing
On June 11, forty-two illegal Chinese migrants, some suffering from frostbite, were found by Ukrainian border guards in a sealed refrigerator truck abandoned near the Slovak border. A border spokesman said knocking from inside the truck, sealed shut according to customs procedures, had attracted the attention of residents of the city of Užhorod. Ten migrants were hospitalized with varying degrees of frostbite. Police were seeking the driver of the Slovak-registered truck, which entered Ukraine illegally to buy meat. A total of 9,787 people, most from southeast Asia, were caught last year trying to cross Ukraine’s western border to Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary. Numbers have remained at a similar level this year.
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Last modified on September 27 1997
URL:http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/crs/europe8.htm
Greg Gressa
[ggressa@carpatho-rusyn.org]
The Carpatho-Rusyn Knowledge Base