On September 29, Ukraine commemorates the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Babyn Yar; worldwide, under the auspices of the WHO and the UN, World Heart Day and the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste are observed. According to the new style, the church calendar commemorates Saint Cyriacus the Anchorite and Saint Theophan the Merciful, while according to the old style, it commemorates Saint Euphemia the All-Praised, writes UNN.
Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Babyn Yar in Ukraine
A nationwide day of mourning and remembrance dedicated to the anniversary of one of the most horrific tragedies of the Holocaust and World War II. On September 29–30, 1941, Nazi occupiers shot more than 33,000 Jews at the Babyn Yar ravine in Kyiv. Throughout the occupation, Babyn Yar became the site of mass executions of more than 100,000 people—Jews, Roma, Ukrainian nationalists, Soviet prisoners of war, psychiatric hospital patients, and members of the underground resistance. This day is a symbol of the fight against antisemitism, xenophobia, and totalitarian crimes against humanity.
World Heart Day
An official global medical observance established in 1999 by the World Heart Federation (WHF) with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO). The day's goal is to raise public awareness of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), which remain the leading cause of death worldwide, and to promote a healthy lifestyle. The event calls on governments and citizens to prevent heart attacks and strokes by controlling blood pressure, avoiding tobacco, eating a balanced diet, and engaging in regular physical activity.
International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
An official UN observance established by the General Assembly in 2019 at the joint initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The event highlights the problem of food waste, as nearly one-third of all food produced worldwide is lost or discarded, causing enormous economic losses, exacerbating hunger, and generating up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the new calendar, Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers commemorate Saint Cyriacus the Anchorite—a prominent Christian ascetic and spiritual practitioner of the fifth and sixth centuries who spent more than seventy years in the deserts of the Holy Land, pursuing ascetic practices in the monasteries of Saint Euthymius and the Lavra of Souka. Cyriacus became renowned for his gentleness, freely offered prayerful assistance, opposition to Origenism, and profound spiritual experience as a hermit.
According to the old calendar, believers commemorate Saint Euphemia the All-Praised, who suffered for the Christian faith in the fourth century in Chalcedon during the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian. This day also recalls the miracle that occurred through her relics in 451 during the Fourth Ecumenical Council, when the saint miraculously confirmed the truth of the Orthodox symphonic confession of faith.