Tuesday, July 17 will mark the 100th anniversary of the execution of the last Russian emperor and his family on the orders of Vladimir Lenin. Orthodox Christians in the area will commemorate the centennial with an Akathist prayer service led by Rev. Archpriest Claude Vinyard and conducted by vocalist Matushka Anna Sharonoff at Bucknell’s Rooke Chapel starting at 7 p.m.
The executions came during the first year of a “Red Terror” that would lead to millions of deaths globally at the hands of regimes which sought to erase traditional Christianity and other faiths. The service will include brief historical talks by Bucknell English professor Alf Siewers and Deacon George Sharonoff. The event will not just be a memorial of those persecutions, but also a thanksgiving for the renewal of the Russian Orthodox faith and its spread worldwide, including in Pennsylvania and a new Lewisburg mission parish.
The event is co-sponsored by the Bucknell Orthodox Christian Fellowship and the Intercultural Equity & Advocacy Office.
For more information, please contact Siewers at 570-523-8876 or asiewers@bucknell.edu.