Moscow, January 17, 2020
On January 16, Archpriest Daniel Andrejuk, the rector of the St. Catherine’s Orthodox Church in America representation church in Moscow, served a memorial panikhida for the victims of the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crash that occurred in Iran on January 8.
176 people, including 9 crew members, 82 citizens of Iran, 63 citizens of Canada, and 11 citizens of Ukraine all died when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran shot down the flight that had just taken off from Tehran, headed for Kiev, confusing it for a U.S. cruise missile.
The panikhida was attended by the Canadian Ambassador to Russia Alison LeClaire, the former head of the Canadian diplomatic mission in Moscow Stephen Zhoben, the Charge D’affairеs of Ukraine in the Russian Federation Vasily Pokotilo, the first Secretary of the U.S. Embassy Sonata N. Coulter, and staff from the embassies of Canada, the U.S., and Ukraine, reports the St. Catherine’s Church website.
Representatives of the Russian Church’s Department for External Church Relations and other clerics of St. Catherine’s also concelebrated in the memorial.
Addressing those gathered, Fr. Daniel expressed his condolences to the compatriots of the victims on behalf of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of America and All Canada of the Orthodox Church in America and His Eminence Archbishop Irénée of Ottawa.
“No words can comfort those who lost their loved ones recently, but it is our duty to offer prayers on the 9th day of the tragedy for all the victims of the tragedy, regardless of their citizenship, nationality, or religious affiliation,” Fr. Daniel said.
Vasily Pokotilo, the Charge D’affaires of Ukraine in Moscow, also expressed his sorrow over the death of the passengers and his gratitude for the prayerful support.