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On 29th January 1918, only seven days after the declaration of independence, almost 400 Ukrainian university students chose to block the route of the Bolsheviks into the city of Kyiv, by positioning themselves at the railway station at Kruty. The young scholars, with no military training and limited weapons at their disposal, were physically no match for the Bolshevik army, and nearly all 400 men died in battle.
Reflecting upon the ultimate sacrifice of Kruty students, Vladyka Daniel made references to the historic struggle of Ukrainian people for their independence, yet linking his reflection to the ongoing historic battles and present wars that are being fought in the ancestral homeland Ukraine – ensuring that the God-given rights of freedom and political, economic and religious unity are preserved and passed to the next generation of Ukrainians throughout the world.
Holding the lit candles and chanting the solemn Memorial Service, Vladyka Daniel, clergy and faithful of the Church prayer for the heroes of Kruty, the fallen men and women of the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine as well as those who sacrificed their lives in the service of the United States of America.
