General Conference remembers Chernobyl

Release #063 {2927} April 26, 1996

DENVER (UMNS) -- The 10th anniversary of the tragic nuclear power accident in the Ukraine was remembered by delegates attending the 1996 General Conference, here, April 26.

On April 26, 1986, a nuclear reactor exploded at the Chernobyl power station, killing many people and crippling "others in body and spirit," said Anton Zakharchenko, one of two observers from Russia attending the legislative meeting.

Zakharchenko, along with Bishop Ruediger R. Minor, Eurasia Area, led the 998 General Conference delegates in a service of remembrance.

Zakharchenko said even though 10 years have passed since Chernobyl, "people are dying from the results of radiation," especially in the countries of the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

He asked the General Conference to remember those who died in the "catastrophe," because "the majority of the population in these countries have already forgotten this tragedy."

According to Minor, the Chernobyl incident is a warning "that we may produce our own apocalypses now." Referring to the terminology of the "wormwood," described in the Bible as a cause of bitter water in Revelation 8:10-11, Minor said in the Ukrainian language, "wormwood is chernobyl."

-- Linda Green

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