Easter under the bombs in Zaporizhzhia

By Svitlana Dukhovych

Excellency, you spent Christmas with the Catholic community of Kharkiv, one of the cities most affected by Russian attacks. Now, for Easter, you went to Zaporizhzhia, another city that is bombed almost daily. Is it a coincidence or did you choose to celebrate the most important holidays with those who are constantly under threat?

Yes, it is a choice, important for me personally, because to pray during these important holidays like Christmas and Easter, I really want to pray especially with people who approach prayer with aspiration, with absolute spiritual fervor, because they do not have no other choice. , no one will save them, such is the terror of war. And I know that for the Catholics in these areas close to the military front, it is important to be at their side. Also because in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Kharkiv, humanitarian aid arrives less. For example, Catholic organizations here are very active and receive support from the Holy Father himself through his chaplain, Cardinal Krajewski. So, for me, it is also a way of seeing how this aid arrives, how it is distributed. I was also able to see the number of people who need help, even in a city like Zaporizhzhia, and I saw the gratitude in their eyes when they receive a piece of bread and something to accompany it; they are really grateful because they have nothing. And as many of them have lost their jobs because factories are no longer operating due to the war, the number of people needing this assistance is increasing. So it's important to me, and I think it's even more important to the Catholics who live here.

How did the Easter holidays go? Who have you met and what is the mood in Zaporizhzhia and especially among Catholics?

I also met the Greek-Catholic community, but only briefly because for them Easter will come later, in May. So I dedicated more moments of prayer to Roman Catholics, and the celebrations were very sincere, very intimate because there is no other support that can serve. And so, for them, Easter becomes even more important than in peaceful countries, because in times of war there is a great risk of falling into human, even psychological despair, because of the brutality, the difficulties. There are even misunderstandings because, for example, I also met volunteers from different territories, and they say that sometimes people from these regions do not understand the news well; what they hear is driven by propaganda. And they come here and find a different reality, much more touching, much more lived, and then they want to return to Ukraine because they see that political propaganda sometimes forgets these needs, focuses on trivial things that we don't see. not, and they don't. see the most important things. And I was very pleased with the way we were able to pray together: in a way that we really wanted the Lord to be our light, to be our resurrection in everything, to be our peace.

I wanted to ask if there was a passage in the Easter celebrations that seemed most appropriate to the current situation experienced by the people there?

For me personally, the first moment of the Easter Vigil was very moving, since the rite begins with the lights turned off. This darkness truly evokes war, and so only one light remains lit: the Easter candle, Jesus shining in the darkness. For me, this was a truly moving moment because it clearly shows that war was invented by men, giving various reasons to attack others, without asking the Lord who is the Creator. But the light of Christ remains burning among us.

Not a day goes by without attacks on Ukrainian towns and villages, causing both the death of people and the destruction of infrastructure. Not to mention the loss of life at the front. Death weighs heavily on the country. In this situation, what meaning do the words “Christ is risen” have?

These words about the resurrection of Jesus have a very important meaning, I would say much more important than in peaceful lands because life will end sooner or later because of war or not, and even in the midst of war, this light remains that no we can turn it off, that no one can take it away from us. It is therefore truly Jesus who is our certainty, the foundation, even our hope because practically there is no other hope. So that's the basic meaning, and it's very clearly understood in war-torn countries like this. For example, very close to the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Zaporizhzhia, a man I knew is buried: the lawyer Denys Tarasov who was even part of the technical committee of the Holy Father's initiative “The Pope for Ukraine “. So, before the (large-scale) Russian attack, he dealt with humanitarian issues, then the war forced him to defend his country and he lost his life. So I knew him while he was alive, now I know his grave and other people like that… But even when life is lost unjustly, in such an aggressive way, the resurrection remains, so it is a foundation still more touching in times of war.

Nuncio Kulbokas at the Latin Cathedral of Kharkiv

Pope Francis, in his Urbi et Orbi message, called for a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine. You are personally very committed to the cause of prisoner exchanges. In your opinion, what is the significance of this call from the Holy Father?

We listened to this appeal of the Holy Father with great, I cannot say satisfaction, because satisfaction will come if there is an effect, but with great attention and truly in a spiritual union, because even here for me, being in the country of Zaporizhzhia is also being in the country where we are closest to the lives of so many prisoners. For me, it would be an even better Easter if I could visit the prisoners. And when the Pope calls for a total exchange of all prisoners, it is not a simple call, but it is a call that concerns many lives, many thousands of people who not only are not able to celebrate Easter, including the two Greek-Catholic priests who were taken to Berdyansk, which is not far from Zaporizhzhia, because it is the same region. My thoughts here are therefore even more intense with them and for them: for these priests, there is not even the possibility of celebrating Easter. It is therefore a true humanitarian appeal with which the Pope addresses all believers and non-believers; it is also a call to pray that the Lord will open the hearts of those who are political leaders to actually facilitate these prisoner exchanges. Here I would also add the words that the Holy Father spoke during the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday; he said that being in lands far from war, there is sometimes a risk of not crying with Jesus and not thinking about the war from afar. And precisely this appeal, expressed by the Holy Father today, at Easter, is a way of being close, of truly concrete concern for those who suffer the most, and those who suffer the most are: the prisoners , the wounded and those who lost their lives in this terrible war.

Your Excellency, you said that for you it would be an even greater Easter if you could personally visit the prisoners. What did you mean?

Of course, my greatest wish is to be able to personally visit the prisoners, those I cannot visit. Here in Ukraine I can visit them. I was actually able to visit Russian prisoners here. On the other hand, I know that my colleague in Russia cannot visit Ukrainian prisoners and that no representative of the Church can visit them, not even Greek Catholic priests. This is a very heavy burden for me: knowing that people are in such difficult conditions and that even the command of Jesus – go visit your brother who is in prison – cannot be respected. And then under what conditions are they stored? Many former released and exchanged prisoners told me that this was the greatest difficulty: losing trust, losing hope, losing faith. So I know that for them faith is almost the only thing left, but we would also like to touch this faith, to encourage them, because otherwise their suffering remains immense.