26/1/18

In Moscow, prayers for the rest of General Vladimir Kappel

In Moscow, the remains of the white General Vladimir Oskarovich Kappel (Владимира Каппеля) are buried in the Donskoy Monastery of the Russian capital. In 2006, with the efforts of the White Warriors (Белые воины) movement the remains of General V.O. Kappel were found, transported to Russia and solemnly reburied in January 2007 in Moscow, in the Donskoy Monastery.

The tradition has also resumed - July 28, the day of sv. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, the patron saint of general Vladimir Kappel, to hold commemorative events at his resting place. Faithful Muscovites regularly commemorate the “warrior Vladimir” in their prayers and at the Divine Liturgy.

Lieutenant-General V.O. Kappel was born in 1883 in an officer's family. Kappel by 1917 was in the rank of lieutenant colonel, and is rightfully considered one of the most iconic officers of the White movement in Eastern Russia. He established himself as a brave officer who retained the debt to the end of his oath. Vladimir Kappel personally led offensive units subordinate to him, always took care of the soldiers entrusted to him.

It is indicative that during the Siberian Ice Campaign in the winter of 1920, after the death of V.O. Kappel, who was already in the post of commander-in-chief of the white armies of the Eastern Front, simple Russian soldiers did not abandon his body, but made the hardest transition through Lake Baikal, in order to adequately bring the body of your favorite commander in Chita on earth. In 1922, during the exodus of the whites outside of Russia, the ashes of the general were taken away by comrades-in-arms to be reburied in China, in which thousands of Russian soldiers found their last refuge.

The remains of VO Kappel for a long time rested in the land of Harbin, at the northern wall of the St. Iveron Church, still known as "The Officer". In 1920-1930, in the fence of the Iveron Church in Harbin, a memorial service was held annually at the tomb of V.O. Kappel, which was attended by numerous comrades-in-arms of the general in the White struggle. In the 1940s, with the beginning of the Second World War, for obvious reasons, the tradition was broken. Later, at the direction of the civil authorities from Moscow, the monument itself was destroyed at the grave of Vladimir Oskarovich - a marble cross with a wreath of thorns. The tradition of commemoration of General Kappel on the day of the memory of Prince Vladimir arose in the distant 20s of the last century, when Kappelevans scattered all over the world in Vladimir's day gathered in the Chinese city of Harbin near the walls of the St. Iversky (Officer's) church, where Kappel had rest in peace. This pious tradition was revived in Russia in 2007, when the solemn ceremony of the reburial of the remains of General Kappel was held at the Donskoy Monastery.

Article in Business Gazeta