“A step towards restoration of historical memory”

Today this city, which used to be a part of the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia, is on the territory of contemporary Poland. Chelm is a special city for Ukrainians, and Volhynians in particular: there still is a church there, in which a great Orthodox relic was preserved, the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Chelm. Now it has returned for good to the Museum of Volyn Icon, and the church built in honor of the Nativity of Our Lady has become a Catholic basilica. A    lot in Chelm reminds of our history, of the times of Daniel of Galicia (Danylo Halytsky). Legend has it that he was buried in catacombs under the Cathedral of Theotokos, built by him.

Now there is only one Orthodox church in Chelm, named in honor of John the Apostle. A delegation from Volyn oblast was present during a service there. The Volyn delegation also participated in the opening of a park near the so-called Danylo’s Hill, which the city authorities christened Prince Danylo’s Park. Oleksandr Pyrozhyk, first deputy head of the Volyn Oblast Council, thanked the Polish citizens who attended the opening ceremony for supporting Ukrainians during the Revolution of Dignity and in fighting against the Russian aggressor. At his request, the memory of Heavenly Sotnia and Ukrainian soldiers who    died in eastern Ukraine was honored with a minute of silence. After that, a concert with participation of both Volhynian and Chelm artists took place at the City Cultural Center. The audience watched the first short educational film by Polish cinematographers on the history of the rise of Chelm, which will later be shown to local school students. “Perhaps, this is the first serious event in restoring Ukrainians’ historical memory in the past 50 years,” Pyrozhyk says. “I hope it is not the last one, since Chelm is the birthplace of Mykhailo Hrushevsky, president of the Ukrainian People’s Republic. Perhaps, we owe this event to a great extent to the diplomatic efforts of Ivan Hrytsak, Ukraine’s Consul General in Lublin.”