PORTRAITS OF HEROIC AND SIMPLE PEOPLE IN THE UKRAINE WAR
Last month (February 2024) marked ten years since Russia marched into parts of Ukraine, and two years since the large-scale invasion which set off the worst conflict in Europe for decades.
Late last year, despite the war, a delegation from ACN travelled to Ukraine, as a sign of solidarity but also to see the work of the Church which is helping people that are exhausted but are also determined not to give up. The Church in Ukraine is a light in the midst of all the darkness.
ACN met women and men who have suffered terribly: Priests, Religious Sisters and lay people who give their lives every day to alleviate, just a little, the suffering of the Ukrainian people. These are Christians, who on the Way of the Cross which they are walking, give a witness of Faith.
ACN wants to give these people a face and share their witness with others, so that the world does not forget the war in Ukraine, and so that the Ukrainian people are not left alone in their vulnerable situation.
Nina and Lyudmila
Nina and Lyudmila:
Warmth and protection for those who no longer have anyone
Since the beginning of the war, the St. John Paul II Parish, in a suburb of Lviv city, has achieved unbelievable things. With its geographical position, it was pretty much the springboard for the onward journey to Poland for many internally displaced persons (IDPs). Up to 250 IDPs found accommodation in this Parish, and around 1,800 meals were served daily in the Parish’s tent kitchen.
Today, only 50 internally displaced people are still there, mostly families with small children and older people, who find it difficult to get accommodation. We spoke with some of them, such as Nina from Donetsk and Lyudmila from Kharkiv.
What these women all have in common is that they have lost everything and have no family to care for them. In March 2023, volunteers welcomed the women at the station in Lviv and took them to the emergency shelter. “If there is no help,” says Nina anxiously, “where do we go? We are deeply grateful to the Parish because here we have found somewhere to stay.”
Sr. Bernadette Venglovska comforting a displaced woman
Sr. Bernadeta: With you at our side we can carry on helping
“Do you know, that without the help of ACN’s benefactors, we wouldn’t be here anymore – and also wouldn’t be able to help those who so desperately need it? Your presence here today is a motivation for us to carry on.” said Sister Bernadeta, superior of the Benedictine Sisters community in Lviv to ACN’s team.
Since the very beginning of the war, these Sisters have opened their home to internally displaced people. They share their daily lives, housework, joys and sorrows. And they help these IDPs to get back on their feet – not only materially, but above all mentally and spiritually.
Sr. Bernadeta says, “we have had around 1,200 IDPs here since the beginning of the war. Currently, we have 25 living here. Many of them come to pray together, to confess and to receive the Holy Eucharist. Some for the first time in their lives.”
Seminarian Petro
Petro: “Until now, war was something I only knew about from books”
Petro is in his sixth year at the Catholic Seminary of St. Joseph in Lviv-Bryukovychi. The 27-year-old comes from a devout Catholic family, with a solid foundation of Faith. He spoke to ACN about the beginning of the war, when the Seminarians went straight into action – a real trial by fire: thousands of displaced persons sought shelter in the grounds of the seminary. Most then set off in the direction of the Polish border.
“Until then, war was something I only knew about from books. At first, we were completely horrified when we heard the news about the Russian invasion and, to begin with, we went and shut ourselves in the Chapel to pray. Then, we saw the first IDPs, and the first rockets shot over our heads. I remember a family, father and mother and two children… The father came to us in the middle of February dressed in just shorts and a t-shirt. The family hadn’t even managed to bring a toothbrush with them. A little later they learned that their house had been destroyed and that there was nothing left to save. You feel very helpless in such situations.”
ACN supported more than 584 Seminarians in 2022 and 544 in 2023, helping with their formation or living costs. Many of them have, like Petro, taken care of displaced people.
Archbishop Shevchuk (Major Archbishop of Kyiv)
Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk: “We are exhausted, completely exhausted.”
“We are exhausted, completely exhausted. Eighty percent of the population is impacted by the war one way or another: as fighters, as displaced persons, as families concerned about the fate of their soldiers, as those providing help… As children, who can’t go to school anymore, or simply as those who can no longer afford the rising prices.
I’m more concerned about the division caused by what people have experienced in the war. Between those who fled and those who stayed, those who went abroad and those who were internally displaced. The Church must work notwithstanding these tensions and heal them.”
In April 2022, Kyiv was practically empty. Only 80,000 of the city’s 4.5 million inhabitants remained. When I asked him what the Church could do to help, Mayor Klitschko replied: “What we need most from you is not food and clothing, but a word of hope.”
Ola
Ola: “Being the wife of a soldier means living on hope every day”
When the war started in 2014, her husband enrolled as a volunteer to protect the country’s borders against the foreign invasion. From that moment, Ola says, her life changed completely. Her family became “a military family. When your husband is on the front line, you live on hope; everything revolves around waiting and phone calls.
“His final call came at 11pm the night before, and I said to him: ‘Call me tomorrow, because you’re so tired now.’ He died on 17 April 2022 at 6.30am. I was told that the building he was in came under fire, that he received a head injury and fought for his life for 40 minutes. I was certain that he would return. As a matter of fact, I’m still waiting and hoping for a WhatsApp message from him,” she says.
The families of those who are killed in action would be unable to cope without the spiritual support provided by military Chaplains. “My children went through a very difficult period, and the Chaplains helped them to pull through.” Two of them, especially, look after us so well that my children now say they have three fathers.”
Natalya with her daughter
Natalya: “Help me not to become a lost spirit”
Natalya is the mother of a three-year-old girl. Her husband has been at the front for 18 months. She is one of the people receiving support and companionship from the House of Mercy, founded by the Archdiocese of Lviv. “Here, I don’t feel lonely, and I can talk about my fears. Being the wife of a soldier on the front line means a lot of suffering. Coming here gives me stability, for my own good and for my husband. It’s helping me to guard against madness, and I feel stronger as a result. It has enabled me to return to a normal life; I had been wandering around like a lost spirit.”
Fr. Roman Laba pointing to the Ukrainian word “shelter” on a wooden fence on the premises of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Perpetual Help Parish Church in Brovary, Kyiv
Fr Roman Laba: The first task of the Church is to provide shelter
Pauline Priest Roman Laba lives in Bowary, a suburb just seven kilometres from Kyiv. In the first days of the war, the town was hit many times by rockets. One of these attacks killed seven people and injured 17. “Many people fled to the west of the country, but others sought refuge with us during the shooting”, says the Priest. Following that, Fr. Roman wrote the word SHELTER in big white letters on a wooden fence next to the Monastery.
“Members of the Parish and people from surrounding buildings came looking for help and protection, so we set up emergency accommodation in the cellar of our Monastery and in the unfinished Monastery Church which, with the support of ACN, is just being built. We had around 80 people with us,” says Fr Roman.
“This is the first task of the Church: to provide shelter, to be a haven for those who suffer, who are alone, who are afraid,” he says.
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