New video pays tribute to veterans
A video produced in commemoration of Veterans’ Day by members of the Veterans’ Guild of Saint Nicholas Cathedral here made its YouTube debut on Wednesday, November 10, 2010.
The video may be accessed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzfO8szW_uU.
As announced on the OCA web site in May 2010—see www.oca.org/news/2142—the cathedral has mounted a major effort to all Orthodox parishes in the US to add the names, ranks, and photographs of their US military veterans to the newly established Orthodox Veterans Memorial web page, a 21st century extension of the cathedral’s continuing commitment to praying for our Orthodox fallen.
“Our chaplains serve Orthodox of all jurisdictions and, as such, our War Memorial will honor all Orthodox Christians whose names have been submitted to be honored,” wrote His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, in a letter to the faithful and friends of Saint Nicholas Cathedral. “We must never forget their sacrifice and those who have, as Abraham Lincoln so eloquently stated in his Gettysburg Address, ‘given their last full measure of devotion.’”
The Orthodox Church has a longstanding tradition of dedicating churches to the memory of Orthodox Christians who have fought and died in defense of Church and country. Saint Nicholas Cathedral, modeled after the 12th century Church of Saint Dmitri in Vladimir, Russia, was built in the early 1960s as the National War Memorial Shrine. A decade-long effort to raise funds for the cathedral’s construction had been blessed by the Holy Synod of Bishops in 1949. The cathedral was dedicated in 1963 to the memory of Orthodox Christians who died fighting for freedom in the Russian Revolution, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War. A bronze dedicatory tablet hangs at the entrance of the cathedral, and a Memorial Book listing the names of the fallen, collected from parishes across the nation, is kept in the altar. Each year, on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, these names are read aloud during the Divine Liturgy.
There is no charge for adding submitting names and photographs, which should be sent by e-mail to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Please include the words “VETERANS” in the subject line of all emails. Names should be submitted in the following format:
- Jurisdiction, Name of Home Parish, Location of Home Parish (e.g., GOARCH, Hagia Sophia Cathedral, Washington, DC)
- Full Name of Veteran, Rank, Branch of Service, Years of Service, Wartime Service, Awards for Valor, Active/Retired/Deceased/KIA/MIA. (e.g., Pappas, George J., COL, US Army, 1948-1978, Korea, Vietnam, Silver Star, Retired.)