Ukrainians need to be comforted 'in their pain,' chaplains say as war enters fourth year

WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) -- As the war in Ukraine reaches the tragic threshold of three years, OSV News is profiling Catholics who have become quiet heroes of help, perseverance and faith amid the nightmare of a full-scale Russian invasion.

Catholic priests are on the frontlines of Ukraine's war battles -- both physical and spiritual. Armored with faith, they bring prayer, supplies and hope to their communities.

"Now is probably the most difficult time," Father Wojciech Stasiewicz told OSV News. "The stress is mounting. Everyone has experienced something difficult during this war -- if not the loss of a loved one, then some kind of destruction -- material or moral," the director of Religious Mission of Caritas-Spes in the eastern Diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia told OSV News.

"The main challenge facing the priest here is simply presence," Father Stasiewicz said as Ukraine faces the fourth year of war. "None of us prepared for war. And none of us knows in the morning what his day will look like."

He said that one day he goes "to the hospital to wounded soldiers, the next to a bombed-out village, the next we conduct classes for children in shelters. And sometimes a single person comes to talk and cries. Or a soldier who, having returned from the front, is shedding the burden of many weeks. Tears, confession and finally a request: 'Father, can I have a hug?' These people need to be cuddled in their pain," he said.

In carrying crosses, however, they are not alone. Polish Father Leszek Kryza, who has been visiting the war-ravaged areas regularly since the beginning of the invasion, coordinating humanitarian efforts on behalf of the Polish bishops' conference, emphasizes mutual support within the church.

"It's a whole army of priests, religious sisters and brothers, volunteers," Father Kryza told OSV News. "They are there with these people, doing everything to reach them. Often these are places where, apart from churchmen, no one reaches," the Polish priest added.

Father Stasiewicz, who is also Polish, has served in Ukraine, his second home, since 2006 -- coming to Kharkiv 10 years later. His city is now only 24 miles from the Russian border. He's seen destruction, death and unspeakable human tragedy.

"This war triggers certain mechanisms in all of us," Father Stasiewicz says. "We want to survive and be safe. When there is silence, it makes us anxious -- as if something is missing. If there hasn't been a missile strike today, we know that it could happen any moment now -- and this anticipation is very difficult."

Priests serving Ukrainianians in the midst of a full-scale Russian invasion that shocked the world Feb. 24, 2022, say the perseverance of the nation is outstanding.

"I've been in collapsed houses," Father Kryza said, "where people lived in basements, under the rubble of their own homes. And these dark basements become their new environment. ... Many people are trying to adapt ... although it's never quite possible."

Father Oleksandr "Sashko" Bohomaz, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest, said that amid the tragedy of war, "there are a huge number of questions for God."

"I am looking for God's answers myself in my personal prayer, in my personal spiritual search. In specific situations, the Lord gives some kind of answer to these questions," the Knights of Columbus chaplain told Mission Magazine.

Since the beginning of the war, he has felt God's guidance. Father Bohomaz didn't think of fleeing, even when Russian troops captured his hometown of Melitopol two days after the invasion started. For nine months, the priest served Ukrainians living under Russian occupation, also as a military chaplain.

"When the war started, I had to make the decision to stand with the people, and it came very naturally to me. I believe it was by grace, not my merit. The Lord gave grace, and I accepted it," he said.

Since day one of the war, with his brothers Knights, he has been feeding the hungry, providing shelter for the homeless and caring for the sick -- deeds for which he was repeatedly intimidated by Russian occupiers. Just like the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus were banned by the Russian occupation authorities in December 2022.

"They accused the Knights of Columbus of being an American spy organization and said it was banned. They accused me of being the one who recruits men for it! Well, this was essentially true, because I did encourage our men to become Knights," Father Bohomaz said.

"Occupation authorities came to me in the parish, to my house. There were interrogations. ... Sometimes they came in masks, with automatic weapons and questioned me directly, with threats and cursing, telling me to prepare for execution. Other times, they came without masks, as if they just wished to talk, saying, 'Don't be afraid, we're your friends.' I told them, 'Friends don't come into my house with weapons.'"

He was arrested and deported to Ukrainian-controlled territory Dec. 1, 2022.

"I did not know if I would make it out alive. ... I promised the Virgin Mary that if I were to make it out alive, I would encourage people to pray the rosary," he recounted to his fraternal organization.

The Blessed Mother listened, and locals showed paths to avoid mines as he walked. The Ukrainian priest made it to Zaporizhzhia. Before a year passed, the bishop commissioned him to take a statue of Our Lady of Fatima and travel to parishes to teach people how to pray the rosary.

"There is a lot of evil around me that I cannot overcome. I hear so many stories of injustice. ... What can I do?" he asked.

"I can listen to them, just take a rosary in my hand and pray. As a priest, I can also make God present through the sacraments. ... The chaplain, the priest, is an instrument of God," he emphasized.

During the first two years of the Russian invasion, Ukraine received more than $380 billion in foreign aid, including $118 billion in military aid.

The Catholic Church is on the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the Knights of Columbus, the world's largest organization of Catholic men, has collected over $24 million in contributions from over 68,300 donors. The church in Poland provided 45 transports of humanitarian aid, with Caritas Poland helping 2 million Ukrainians. Caritas Spes Ukraine delived 5,000 tons of supplies since the start of the war in Ukraine, amid an ocean of other forms of help.

This support, while essential, did not turn the tide of the war. The fate of civilians is being changed every day by humanitarian aid, but sadly, after three years, there is less and less of it.

"People often ask the question why, if the world can help us ... is it not helping us?" Father Stasiewicz asked. "This is difficult to answer. We realize that everyone has grown tired of this war -- both us and those who helped us. ... But I emphasize ... without outside help, Ukraine will not cope."

"We cannot forget about this war," added Father Kryza. "It is very real and very concrete. We must try to help these people and help them wisely. But we can't give them the feeling that the world is no longer interested."

Ukrainians are looking to the U.S. hoping that the new president will end their three-year ordeal, and under just and fair conditions for Ukraine.

"We all pray that, just as God did not start this war, he will give wisdom to the people who can end this war. What people want is a truce, a return to their homes, reunion with their families and a normal life," Father Kryza said.

Father Kryza recalled the words of Pope Francis, who said that war is always a defeat.
"But where there is evil, good is always born," said Father Kryza, who visited Ukraine 30 times since February 2022, including visits to the frontline zones.

He said that one of the fruits of this war is a river of prayer. When he visited soldiers in the trenches, an unbeliever wanted a rosary for his own. "He said to his fellow soldier, who was a believer: 'and now you teach me what I should do with it,'" the Polish priest recalled.

"This is the paradox of war," Father Stasiewicz said, "the immensity of cruelty and evil ... in which powerful good is born. It is experienced here by each of us. In the worst time that man has inflicted on others in these Ukrainian lands, paradoxically there is more good, unity of hearts, patriotism and faith in God," he said.

Father Kryza stresses that he doesn't feel like a hero at all. He comes to war-ravaged Ukraine, because he gave his word.

"At the beginning of the war, when I went to these areas, people asked -- 'will you not leave us?'" said Father Kryza. "I told them that as long as this war continues, we will support you and visit you. This was a very concrete commitment for me. Since then, I have tried to be close to people."

Father Bohomaz concluded: "Despite it all, God won, Jesus won. Amid all this hell, all this evil, God is good."