LVIV. The oblique spotlight of the morning sun hits the side altar of the Peter and Paul garrison church. The rays illuminate the true faces in their uniforms – images of soldiers who have died in an eight-year war.
Most of them died in 2014 when Russia took over Crimea and launched a war in eastern Ukraine in the Donbas region.
One poster presents 21 Ukrainian heroic corpses from here in the Lviv region. More on the other wall boards.
And now they are dying at a much faster pace than in recent years.
At nine, the church is half crowded as a military priest Vselovod Semenenko and his co-workers begin a special memorial service.
There are several who have lost loved ones in a month-long Russian invasion.
Everyone has a common question: why?
There is no answer to that for the priest either. But he has a mission, to be a support to those whose world has collapsed.
– It is the motto of our military priests to be close, Semenenko tells after the service.
“We pray that the soldiers will not lose their humanity”
The need for support is great. War causes mental problems for soldiers, no matter how they go about it: whether they kill enemies, see horrors, or be wounded in the war itself.
– It is important to pray that the soldiers do not lose their humanity, Semenenkor says.
He recalls that just ordinary people are revealed under a gun suit.
– They are not robots or Robocop cops who would just kill insensibly, Semenenko says.
According to Semenenko, he has met several soldiers who say they killed enemy soldiers, even if they did not want to. They cry and don’t know how to go on with their own lives.
Many become alcoholic or sink into deep depression.
As the war in Ukraine has been going on for eight years, there are many traumatized veterans in the country.
Semenenko has a message for them. He tells the soldiers that God has not left them, but is with them.
– You’re not guilty of anything. You stood up to defend the homeland. It was your duty, Semenenko says to the soldiers.
Military Priest: Before, the army did only evil, but now good
Co-operation between the armed forces and the church began after the collapse of the Soviet Union, just over 30 years ago. During the Soviet era, the atheistic ideology of the state tried to suppress faith and religion. This church building also served as a warehouse at the time.
– An army without God can only do evil, as it did during the Soviet era, Semenenko says.
Now he thinks the Ukrainian army is doing good.
– Our army is defending our homeland. We pray for it because we are grateful to the armed forces, Semenenko says.
In Ukraine, the home front is seamless. There are no signs in the public eye of any anti-war opposition.
The defensive struggle is considered perfectly justified, and Russia is unequivocally seen as an attacker. This is also believed in Ukrainian churches.
Russia’s guilt does not eliminate the trauma of killing
Although the war situation in Ukraine is considered very black and white, killing in war is still not without problems.
Semenenko points out that he thinks killing another person is always wrong. Sometimes killing can still prevent greater evil.
According to Semenenko, the Bible contains many examples and examples of how people who defended their true values, their country and their loved ones have been killed in war.
– Unfortunately, this is the history of our world. Modern-day soldiers are not the first to find themselves in this situation. This is the history of fallen humanity, Semenenko says.
However, the other side of the war has also sought to defend its values, its homeland and its loved ones – with the great difference that in Russia the church leadership is trying to justify the attack.
“The truth is on our side and in the end the truth wins”
At the back of the garrison church, 26 years old Adam Mosinh follows with sorrow the memorial service and the sacrament.
He has come to leave the church in memory of his friend. A friend who did not have time to serve in the Ukrainian armed forces than a week before his death.
– We’re all in shock. Young guy. Honestly, this is difficult for me, Mosinh says.
Mosinh’s 20-year-old friend specialized in mines. He was either laying mines or clearing mines on a bridge somewhere in eastern Ukraine when a Russian bomb exploded right there.
Death was immediate. He was not left to be buried.
– We remember our heroes, young people who have not yet had time to see life. They are our role models and we honor their memory, Mosinh says after the service.
Mosinh has no doubt about the legitimacy of the defensive struggle or the will of the Ukrainians to defend.
– Ukraine is a country that is ready to give all its strength and all its blood and pay any price to maintain its independence, Mosinh says.
Although the Russian invasion has caused immense suffering and much death in Ukraine, Mosinh is convinced of the outcome of the war.
– The truth is on our side. And in the end, the truth wins, Mosinh says.
The churches condemn the Russian attack almost unanimously
The truth about Russia and the Russian invasion is what the Ukrainian churches are unanimous about. Ukrainians are quite religious. The views of the churches on the war are interesting and the work of the churches is important.
Churches in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world have condemned the Russian attack almost unanimously.
One of the few exceptions is the patriarch of the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirillwhich has given the President of Russia Vladimir Putin unwavering support for the attack.
The Finnish Orthodox Church is not part of the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Finnish Orthodox Church has unequivocally condemned the Russian war of aggression.
The Independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine has also strongly condemned the war started by Russia. The Orthodox Church in Ukraine is divided, but Orthodox members of the Russian Orthodox Church have also condemned the attack.
In Lviv, military priest Semenenko does not consider Cyril a real Christian or a real priest.
Admittedly, he does not belong to the same church, so condemnation is not very difficult. Founded in the 17th century by the Catholic Jesuit Brotherhood, the Lviv garrison church is part of the Independent Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine. It follows the Orthodox order of worship, but is otherwise subordinate to the Pope.
As a result of the war, Russia is losing the rest of the spiritual grip it has had on the Ukrainian Orthodox.
Indeed, it has been speculated that if Ukraine survives the war as an independent state, the war may unite or at least bring Ukrainian Orthodox closer together – and why not other Christian denominations.
You can discuss the topic of the story on March 21st. until 11 p.m.