On June 2, the 5th Sunday of Pascha, that of the Paralytic, the faithful gathered at St. Vladimir Cemetery in Jackson, NJ for a panihida at St. John the Baptist Chapel to commemorate the victims of Lienz. Archpriest Serge Lukianov (chaplain of the Kuban Cossack Voisko Abroad) led the panihida, co-served by clerics of nearby St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Howell, NJ: Archpriests Luka Novakovic and Boris Slootsky, Priest Anthony Williams, and Protodeacon Paul Drozdowski.

On June 1, 1945, at the conclusion of the Second World War, over 20,000 Cossacks were rounded up by the British Army near the town of Lienz, Austria, and handed over for deportation to the Soviet Union. This action was in accordance with agreements at the Yalta and Tehran Conferences of the Allied Powers, which determined that all Soviet refuges and prisoners of war be repatriated if found within other Allied-controlled zones. As many of the Cossacks at Lienz were White émigrés and their children, they refused repatriation on account of the fact that they had never been Soviet citizens. This led to an organized forcible removal, which began while the Cossacks had gathered to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in an open field. The resulting operation left hundreds of Cossack men, women, and children dead, while hundreds more were sent to certain death in the Soviet camps.

By tradition, the Kuban Cossack Voisko Abroad commemorates the victims of this tragedy every year on the nearest Sunday to June 1, and St. John the Baptist Chapel – built in honor of the Holy Passion-Bearer Tsarevich Alexis, Most August Ataman of All Cossack Hosts – likewise commemorates those fallen at Lienz.

An honor guard was present, holding Russian and American flags, as well as the banners of the Kuban, Don, and Terek Cossack Voiskos. Also coming to pray at the annual commemoration for the departed were several survivors of that terrible event, including the Ataman of the Kuban Cossack Voisko Abroad, Alexander M. Pewnew. For the first time in many years, two women attended from Millville, NJ, who as young girls were survivors of the massacre. They were moved to tears by service and reminisced about their experiences. People cried listening to the horrors that they had to experience.

Afterward, a memorial luncheon was then held at the Kuban Cossack Hall in Howell, at which time guests were also invited to visit the adjoining Cossack Museum.