Oleksandr Oles to be reburied on Famous Ukrainians Walk

In Prague, on January 25, a ceremony of farewell with the ashes of Ukrainian writer Oleksandr Oles and his wife Vira Kandyba was scheduled at the prayer house of Saints Philip and Jacob,. This was reported by Radio Liberty, WestNews notes.

The tomb, where Oleksandr Oles and his wife Vira Kandyba rested until the beginning of January 2017, Prague. Photo courtesy of radiosvoboda.org

“It never happened in the Czech Republic, in my time, and I have served since 1991 that we sent to Ukraine a person’s relics,” said Vasily Slywotzky, rector of the Cathedral of St. Clement and the Episcopal Vicar for Ukrainian faithful of the UGCC in Bohemia, who officiated at the farewell ceremony.

Chairman of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Volodymyr Vyatrovych reported that the reburial is preliminary scheduled for this Friday, January 27. Writer Oleksandr Oles is to be reburied in Lukyanovka cemetery in Kyiv. The Cabinet of Ministers allocated funds for the delivery of ashes ceremony.

“We have scheduled his reburial for this Friday. But some points need to be clarified. A transfer of reburial to a certain date is possible. It has been decided to rebury him at Lukyanovka cemetery. A separate Alley of honorary reburials is allocated there in order to save the remains of those famous Ukrainians who had been scattered around the world. The highest level is a level of the National Pantheon, which we create, where a small amount would have to be buried, perhaps a few dozen of those figures who were crucial to the history of Ukraine,” said Volodymyr Vyatrovych.

As reported, the famous Ukrainian writer Oleksandr Oles (1878-1944), until recently, was buried at Olshansky cemetery in Prague.

On January 3, 2017, his remains were exhumed as it was decided to bury another person Volodymyr Mykhailyshyn in that place, which had lately paid rent for the grave of the Ukrainian poet. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko instructed to transport and rebury the remains of Oles in Ukraine.

Late on January 3, the Canadian relatives of Oles were reported to have agreed to the writer’s reburial in Ukraine. Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada Andriy Shevchenko wrote on Twitter that diplomats succeeded  to find two Canadian grandchildren of the writer.

“We have got a written consent from both grandchildren for reburial and we forward these documents to the Cabinet of Ministers in Kyiv and to our embassy in Prague,” told the ambassador to Ukrinform news agency.

Volodymyr Vyatrovych has noted that the situation with the tomb of Oleksandr Oles is indicative, it shows that many graves of Ukrainian abroad are threatened.

In particular, this year only in Olshansky cemetery in Prague the remains of a playwright, one of the fathers of modern Ukrainian modern theater Spyridon Cherkasenko; public figure, teacher Orysia Efremova-Durdukivska; construction engineer Oleksandr Yaroshevskiy.

According to Vyatrovych, it is the government that should initiate their return to homeland for burial in the National Pantheon.
Oleksandr Oles (real name Kandyba) is a prominent Ukrainian writer and poet born in 1878 in Sumy. The first collection of poems “Joy embraced with sorrow” was published in 1907.

From February 23 to April 1, 1919 he served as Attache of the Extraordinary UPR diplomatic mission in Hungary. After the defeat of the Ukrainian revolution he emigrated to Czechoslovakia, where he lived until his death in 1944. He is also the father of the famous Ukrainian writer and member of OUN Oleg Olzhych.