Ukraine: Fighting on the spiritual front

21/10/2024, Author: Sylvain Dorient

For two years, Bishop Vitaly Krivitskiy of the Latin Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr has been living in a time of war. Faced with a distraught population, he is organising his parishes into sanctuaries of faith and preparing his priests to offer “spiritual first aid” to soldiers at the front.

A mass-grave in Bucha, laden with toys for the deceased children buried there.

At 52 years of age, Bishop Vitaly Krivitskiy is leading a diocese of 70 priests, all of them facing misery everyday as a result of the war which is raging in their country. They witness the mourning, the fear of the future, the power cuts and all the poverty. “Alongside their ordinary pastoral work, they are also carrying out social action as an increasing significant part of their activity,” explains Bishop Krivitsky to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

When the “Special Military Operation” was launched by Russia at the end of February 2022, the bishop wrote to his priests: “If you must leave, because you judge that it is impossible to stay, no-one will condemn you. But your parishioners need you.” None of them chose to leave their post, not even any of the 15 foreign priests who were missionaries in his diocese.

15 Redemptoris Mater seminarians for the Kyiv-Zhytomer last year, pictured with some of the priests in the diocese.

Parishes as safe havens

Obliged to manage the emergency, the bishop instructed that the parishes become safe havens for all the refugees. That they adapt basements or crypts into shelters, that they stock reserves of drinking water, petrol and electric generators. “I want our parishes to become citadels on which the war has no hold,” explains the bishop to ACN. “Places where you can be warm, protected from the bombs, but also where you can talk to a priest and receive a certain comfort.” In three mobile kitchens, 1,000 meals a day can be prepared for to the most deprived people. Always with a view of pulling the population away from the war, summer camps are organised for young people with the help of ACN. At the front the bishop asks volunteer priests to provide “emergency spiritual care” in the style of military nurses. They must support soldiers confronted with despair. They also distribute “spiritual emergency kits”, a Bible and a Rosary, all without receiving aid from the state.

A 2024 summer camp for children in Latin Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, run by the Pallottine sisters.

But the passing of time is taking its toll on these measures. The generators, which are not designed to be used permanently, are getting tired. “Our resources are dwindling,” notes the bishop sadly.

There is another worrying subject, since the government has said that it will mobilise all men “without the least exception”. That could include priests, and this measure could destroy Bishop Krivitsky’s efforts. The Ukrainian authorities, touched like the whole country by secularism, could opt for the extreme solution of enrolling priests without distinction. Certainly, neither Ukraine’s allies nor civil society would appreciate such a measure, but the difficult military situation could be used as a pretext to go ahead.

A Pauline priest in the diocese, 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 Oblast.

“We never speak about the distant future”

The coming winter risks being terrible for the country, subject to the onslaught of Russian artillery. The power grid, which is 80% destroyed, could be cut, which would make life impossible for the civilian population.

However, the bishop is not looking too far ahead. “We never speak about the distant future. We only ask ourselves what we can do to respond to this or that emergency.”

For the moment, he primarily needs prayer: “It’s not just words, when you pray for your neighbour, there are real effects,” assures the prelate. Then he hopes to get through winter, and especially that the generators work correctly, as they are the only recourse during the freezing winter if the electric lines are cut.

Since the war started, ACN has supported priests in their pastoral mission among the faithful in extremely difficult circumstances. Since the beginning of 2023, ACN has allocated nearly €2 million to various pastoral and emergency projects in Ukraine, of which some €150,000 has been for the Latin Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr. In addition to this, more than €2 million has been sent to priests in the form of Mass offerings, including €125,000 specifically for Bishop Krivitsky’s diocese.