Church bells will ring in 50 Dutch cities for Ukraine on Friday; Prayer services all day

The carillons will sound for Ukraine in more than fifty cities in the Netherlands on Friday evening. Between 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., musicians all over the country will give a carillon concert to commemorate the Russian invasion of Ukraine exactly one year ago to the day. Ukrainian refugees will gather in Utrecht, The Hague, Amsterdam and other places to commemorate.

Amsterdam Rotterdam, Groningen, Leiden, Maastricht, Deventer, Heerenveen, Enschede and Middelburg, are participating among other cities. It was previously known that city carillonneur Malgosia Fiebig will be giving a special carillon concert in Utrecht. In many places, including Utrecht, the concert is followed by the ringing of bells to commemorate those who died during the war in Ukraine.

"We want to give the people here and in Ukraine a helping hand," said Erik Kerpen, chair of the Utrecht carillons, about the initiative that was started by the Voorburg Rotary. "It would be nice if they heard about this action in Ukraine and we could provide a small bright spot." At the same time on Friday, the carillon bells of St. Sophia's Cathedral in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv will also sound.

A national prayer for peace in Ukraine will be held in the Domkerk in Utrecht on Friday. The request to hold this meeting was made by the Ukrainian embassy in the Netherlands, the Protestant Church said.

Those involved include René de Reuver of the Protestant Church, Pastor Mykola Butsiak of the Greek-Catholic parish in Utrecht and Sonja van der Meulen, Pastor of the Mennonite congregation in Leiden and the Mennonite representative in the Council of Churches. Ukrainians in the Netherlands will take part in the prayer moment.

The service starts at 9:15 a.m. followed by the Walk of Hope from Domplein to the Jaarbeurs. The prayer service will be broadcast live by KRO-NCRV and EO on NPO 2

Prayers for Ukraine will also be organized in other churches on Friday. For example, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic parish in the St-Aloysius Church in Utrecht will hold a vigil at 7 p.m. in memory of the people who fell victim to the Russian invasion.

Furthermore, the Church of St. Nicholas of Myra on the Lijnbaansgracht in Amsterdam will be open all day on Friday. In the Ukrainian Orthodox parish on the Heer Vrankestraat in Rotterdam, there will be a prayer service at 7 p.m.

The Council of Churches in the Netherlands, following the example of the church leaders of Ukraine, has called on local parishes, churches and religious communities to pray for peace in Ukraine over the weekend, and to involve Ukrainian refugees if possible.

Commemorations

Five thousand Ukrainians will commemorate the start of the war a year ago today on the Jaarbeurs on Friday. Refugees from all over the country will gather in Utrecht. The commemoration will include video messages from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Other speakers include State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Security and Asylum), mayor Sharon Dijksma of Utrecht, and the ambassador of Ukraine, Maksym Kononenko. The commemoration will end with the Ukrainian national anthem.

“Friday is a difficult day for Ukrainians on which we don’t want to be alone,” said the initiator of the commemoration Anna Bieliaieva. She fled from Kharkiv to Utrechtt. The gathering will open with the Walk of Hope from Central Station to the Jaarbeurs. Thousands of Ukrainians took this route to the regional reception point in the Jaarbeurs as the end point of their flight last year.

In The Hauge, there will be a memorial march in the Eline Vera Park on Friday afternoon. People will also gather in Amsterdam. The peace platform Stop the War Amsterdam will demonstrate at the Russian trade representation office on Museumplein. A demonstration will also march from the same square to Dam Square, followed by a manifestation with various speakers, including deputy mayor Rutger Groot Wassink of Amsterdam.