On Sunday, November 18, the Ukrainian community in Italy will mark the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, will lead the memorial service at the Cathedral of Naples in southern Italy.

According to the UGCC Information Department, this is the second time the UGCC in Italy, together with the Italian Church, commemorates the anniversary of the 1932-1933 genocide in Ukraine, under the slogan “Remember - Learn - Prevent.” For the first time such an event was held on November 26, 2017 in the Cathedral of Milan.

Having responded to the request of the UGCC in Italy, the Neapolitan Archdiocese will receive Ukrainians from different parts of the Apennine Peninsula this year at the Cathedral (Duomo di Napoli).

The head of the UGCC will lead the Divine Service (beginning at 13:00) in concelebration with Bishop Dionysius, Apostolic Visitator for the Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Italy, the Italian bishops and priests and chaplains of the Ukrainian communities in Italy. Representatives of diplomatic departments of Ukraine in the Italian Republic and the Apostolic See will take part in the commemorative Liturgy.

At the beginning of the Divine Liturgy, the greetings will be extended by Cardinal Crescencio Sepé, Archbishop of Naples. The list with the names of 85 children, victims of the Holodomor will be read out. It should be added that within the framework of the international action “Let's burn a candle of memory”, which began in Kyiv on September 1 this year and was dedicated to the memory of children every day around the world, where Holodomor victims are commemorated, millions of people read out the names of the children. The Divine Liturgy will end with the panakhyda.

On the occasion of these events, the Archeparchy of Naples decided to provide for the prayer and reverence the relics (blood) of St. Januarius (San Gennaro, 305). It is known that three times a year, when removing a closed dish in which the blood is stored, and placing it near a reliquary with Januar's head, dried blood droplets become liquid – this is the miracle of St. Januarius.

The southern Italian city of Naples was chosen not by chance to commemorate the victims of the Holodomor. 9,000 Ukrainians legally live there, and 44,000 Ukrainians reside in the Campania region overall.