Father Roman Mykievych, parish priest of Tysmenytsia, in the west of the country, describes the mixed feelings of pain and faith that priests experience when soldiers who fell at the front return to their locality: “we help the families to find comfort, but we also support each other as priests. Where Christ is resurrected, death flees.”
Svitlana Dukhovych – Vatican City
“For us, Easter is not just a tradition or a celebration. For us, Easter is our whole life. And as long as we celebrate and experience Easter and the Resurrection in this way, I am sure that even death will not reach us“, says Father Roman Mykievych, Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priest and parish priest of Tysmenytsia in the Archeparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk, located in western Ukraine. The awareness that this holiday – which some Eastern Catholics celebrate this year on May 5 with Orthodox Christians – is at the heart of Christian life has always been present among the faithful in Ukraine. But with the war, it became a way of life to cope with the death of so many people, including young people, both civilians and military personnel.
Support for the bereaved begins at the funeral
For Ukrainian priests, the funerals of fallen soldiers constitute one of the greatest challenges during this period of great trial which began on February 24, 2022. Father Roman, who is also the head of the deanery bringing together 17 parishes, explain: “Just think that of the seventeen parishes here, only one has not had a funeral for soldiers who lost their lives at the front. All the other parishes had funerals, some had more than ten. Here in Tysmenytsia, in my parish, I have had five funerals of soldiers and in our deanery there have already been up to thirty“.
To help the family overcome the tragedy, the funeral is organized in the most solemn way possible: the military, representatives of local authorities and all the priests of the deanery take part. “These are very difficult experiences and losses“, explains the priest, “and it is very important to provide spiritual support to the family, to the people who experience them. And this support begins at the funeral, with the presence of a priest. When you have attended the funeral, when you have accompanied the family in the last farewell to the deceased, when you have led the procession, these people become like your family, they begin to trust you more, they become closer to the Church, and after the funeral, you meet them in town or you go to visit them, they are so happy to receive you and they always want to be with you to talk, to express their sadness, to cry. Even people who rarely went to church before started coming after their son died, they became like family to me“.
Father Roman Mykievych during a celebration
Helping you find the strength to live
Father Mykievych explains that it is not the same if the priest does not attend the funeral and only arrives afterwards to offer support and help to the grieving family. “They don’t need anything: they have lost their loved ones, the most precious thing they had, and you cannot console them with anything else. We cannot compensate for this losshe explains, through material assistance, even if it can be significant. It is a matter for the State. Rather, the priest must give people the strength to live. It’s very important today: to give people the strength to live because people are losing the taste for living and it’s very visible. People complain, some say they are depressed, others say they see no prospects, still others say they are afraid. In other words, people lose the strength to live and do not know where to find it. So when a priest comes to talk to them, it helps them. Here in our country, priests enjoy authority, in our country, the priest is the first psychologist. If you come to a parish and ask a family who has lost a child or a husband: “Who would you like to talk to? Who would you like to receive consolation from?”, they will probably answer: “From our priest“”.
Funeral of a Ukrainian soldier
Experienced collegiality
Funerals of soldiers are a very difficult experience for priests. Father Roman, as dean, presides over all the funerals in his deanery, more than thirty so far. “When you stand before the lifeless body of a young manobserves Father Roman, you tell yourself that maybe you should have been in his place. You realize that if this man hadn’t fought, who knows if you would still be here, alive and walking this earth…. It’s as if he had taken your place, saved you, and died to that. This feeling is very painful and, at the same time, you have to comfort others, console them, not just deal with your own feelings. So you have to have the strength to do all this“. The Greek Catholic priest emphasizes that without the daily Eucharist, without prayer, he would not be able to face these situations. And adds another essential element, mutual aid between priests: “When there are many of us, it’s easier, because we support each other. For example, the mother of a deceased soldier felt unwell during the funeral. An ambulance arrived and doctors immediately helped. We suspended the funeral for a while and the seminarians, who had been invited, began to sing religious songs while waiting for the mother to recover. There were difficult times… And then, this situation is in front of you all day long. We must therefore have the spiritual strength to face it“.
Veneration of the Plashchanytsia (shroud) in the Ukrainian Byzantine tradition
Experiences that bring people together
According to the Ukrainian priest, collegiality and support between priests are very important in these cases and are not abstract concepts: a priest needs to feel concrete support from other priests, from the Church. “When there is a funeral of one of our soldiers, the parish priest asks the priests of the deanery: “Dear brothers, please come and support me and the family of the fallen soldier.” Because if the priest remained alone at such a funeral, it would be very difficult for him. And this priest also asks: “Put crosses on the people who can come, so that I can be sure.” And it is very important for this priest to know that he can count on the presence of other priests, because it is his deceased parishioner. I know this from personal experience when my neighbor from the house across the street died. When I presided over the funerals of soldiers, for example in neighboring villages, I did not know them personally, but here, in my parish, when they brought my neighbor back from the front… I had known him for many years , I always saw him… And at that moment, a great sadness comes over you, during the sermon your voice changes, at certain moments you want to cry because you see a familiar person in this coffin“.
Easter is our whole life
In this context, the celebration of Easter becomes the center of life. “For us, Easter is not just a tradition or a celebration. For us, Easter is everything. Here -underlines Father Roman- we do not need to explain to our fellow citizens what Easter is. For them it is the culmination of everything, it is sacred. Even if you don’t go to church throughout the year, go and worship the Plashchanytsia [ndlr: l’icône représentant le Christ après qu’il a été enlevé de la croix] or have the paska blessed [ndlr: le pain préparé en Ukraine pour Pâques], It is sacred. Before Easter, many people also go to confession. The event of Easter and Resurrection is therefore very important for our people. I think it saves us, both psychologically, but also actually, from all kinds of problems. For where the risen Christ is, death flees. And I think that death has no access to us and has no power as long as we truly experience Easter“.
