A bloody Easter in Ukraine. On Sunday 5 May, when the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus according to the Julian calendar, Russian forces fired drones from the south to the north of the country. The regions of Kharkiv, Kherson and Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy were hit the hardest. Fifteen people were injured in Kharkiv and two people were killed in a rocket attack in the Donetsk region. Destruction was reported in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Religious leaders offered their prayers for peace. In response to Pope Francis’ “best wishes” to Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches that celebrate Easter during Sunday’s Regina Coeli prayer in Rome, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, sent out an appeal from the Phanar for a just and lasting peace. “We pray for our brothers and sisters who are enduring hardship and suffering, who yearn for peace in the war-torn Middle East and in long-suffering Ukraine, seeking reconciliation, justice and solidarity as the foundation for lasting peace.” The Patriarch reiterated the initiative for an exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine, “especially on the sacred occasion of Easter.”
“We beseech the Lord of mercy to illuminate our minds and hearts, guiding us on the path of truth and genuine freedom, imbued with the spirit of Resurrection and hope, as we proclaim with joy, ‘Christ is Risen!” with unwavering conviction on our lips.”
Conditions in Ukraine are extremely difficult even for the Churches. Metropolitan Epiphanius, Primate of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Ukraine (independent of Moscow), described the situation in the temporarily occupied territories, where “our Church is outlawed”, in a recent interview with Radio Svoboda. “We have lost almost all of our churches in Crimea,” he said. “Even the dome of the cathedral in Simferopol has been torn down only a short time ago.” The Orthodox Church in Ukraine, headed by Metropolitan Epiphanius, continues to function in the occupied territories of the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson regions, albeit underground.
There are still priests in the territories of these regions, but they carry out their liturgical services and ministry in secret. Sadly, at the risk of their own lives.
According to reports received by Metropolitan Epiphanius, on 13 February Russian troops raided the home in Kalanchak of 59-year-old Fr Stepan Podolchak, abbot of the local Orthodox Church, they abducted him, and brought him to an unknown destination. On 15 February, his wife was summoned and “invited” to identify her husband’s dead body. Subsequently, the bishops of Donetsk, Mariupol and Kherson asked their clergy to leave these regions because “human life is precious.” However, the priests decided to stay of their own free will. “We pray every day for the victory of truth and for a just peace for Ukraine,” says Epiphanius. In his Easter message, he writes that his thoughts go out to “all the victims of Russian aggression, the wounded, the forcibly displaced, and especially to those who are celebrating this Easter under the yoke of temporary occupation, in the bondage of captivity, in the enemy’s grip. Dear brothers and sisters, in these dark and terrible times, may the witness of faith in Christ’s Resurrection strengthen you all and kindle the flame of hope for victory.”
His words were echoed by His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. “I embrace with my paternal love the families of the fallen,” he said, “those who are enduring the indescribable pain of losing their son or daughter, brother or sister, husband or wife, father or mother.
“I embrace the wounded,” he said, “the families of our prisoners and those missing in action, who are celebrating Easter today in tears.” “To all those who have been deprived of their homes by the war and expelled from their hometowns or villages, to all internally displaced persons, and to all those who found temporary sanctuary outside their homeland, I wish you spiritual comfort and confidence, that where the Risen Lord is, there we are always at home.”
