In this second chapter of our special, you will find:
The testimony of Kateryna: a mother whose son died in the war in Ukraine
The Orthodox parish priest of Bucha: “It’s easy to blame God. But it wasn’t God who killed. It wasn’t God who tortured.”
It is pain made flesh.
Three years have passed since Kateryna lost her son Maksym in June 2022, just a few months after the invasion of Ukraine.
KATERYNA RUDENOK
There is no greater pain than that of a mother who has lost her children, so young. It cannot be described in words, or in anything. The only thing is… I am not the only mother this has happened to.
My son Maksym has two children, a boy in third grade and a girl in sixth grade. They miss their dad so much. It cannot be expressed in words, it’s simply impossible.
What words cannot express, her tears do.
Kateryna is like an open wound. A wound of war that has already claimed more than a million lives since 2022. More than a million families mourning at the graves of their loved ones in cemeteries drowned in a sea of flags and crosses, when their bodies are returned.
When asked if, as a believer, she is angry with God, Kateryna responds:
KATERYNA RUDENOK
No. And what fault is it of God’s? The fault lies with people. It is not God’s fault. That is what I think. Perhaps I am wrong. But that is what I think.
It is similar to the response given in Bucha, the town near Kyiv that was the site of a massacre. Hundreds of corpses piled in mass graves. Bodies burned and mutilated.
Photos are displayed, in the Orthodox church, showing the atrocities lived through in those days.
FR. ANDRIY HALAVIN
Orthodox parish priest in Bucha
The identification of these people lasted several months, because many of their relatives had fled. But we knew almost all of them, even though some were burned and others left lying in the street, their bodies unrecognizable. But thanks, for example, to France—whose forensic experts brought a mobile laboratory—DNA samples were taken from all the corpses, and since these people were locals, it was easier for us to identify them. At this point, almost all have been identified.
Now everything has been rebuilt and nothing is left to recall the massacre at the start of the conflict, except for this monument.
FR. ANDRIY HALAVIN
Orthodox parish priest in Bucha
Very often we are asked similar questions, especially: “Where is God? Why didn’t God stop it?” and things like that. But it is very easy to put all the blame on God. It was not God who came here. It was not God who killed. It was not God who tortured. It was not God who stole. It was us—humans. And on the other hand, after what I saw, my faith actually grew stronger.
That is why from Bucha they call for justice for those responsible for the massacre to be held accountable for their actions. They say it is not vengeance, but justice.
Trans. VL
