“It also happens to me, often, to raise my eyes to the sky and ask the Lord: why? I see the missiles falling, the terror in the people and I hear the stories coming from the north, the raids, the tortures, the rapes, the death . I have a thousand questions too, and it is not easy even for a priest to find the answers to all this “. Alexsey Samsonov is the priest of the parish of the Assumption, in Kiev, and director of Radio Maria in Ukraine. But even above all this is a man who tells the Adnkronos about his fear, doubts and resistance, determined not to leave the capital and the faithful. While he talks about his mission as parish priest in a city of war, on the other end of the phone only the birds can be heard, in a moment of respite. “In Kiev the situation is slowly returning to normal – says Alexsey – The missiles continue to fall, the alarms sound, of course; but after 59 days of war we got used to them”.
“Today in Kiev life is difficult, between checkpoints and curfews from 10pm to 5am – continues the priest – The government invites people to wait to return, that it is not possible to guarantee them the necessary safety, but many are returning from Poland and other countries. Shops and businesses reopen, there is a desire for normality. So too I celebrate mass every day, perhaps more than I did in peacetime. People come in large numbers, are afraid and look for safety, hope and light. Listening to the radio has increased threefold, the need for prayer is constant “.
Precisely one of these moments of prayer is, the parish priest of Kiev tells us, one of his fondest memories during this war: “It was the third, perhaps the fourth day since the bombing began – he says – In Konotop, north of Ukraine, the Russians had already arrived. I then called the parishes, the parish priest told me that people were hiding there, so I proposed a moment of prayer together. meditation, it was really touching. But not only that, I will also not forget the confidence that a parish priest from the city of Cernihiv gave me. He told me that he did not know what to do, whether to go away as the faithful told him, whether to save himself or stay. He went to a chapel, to ask the Lord. As soon as he left, the bridge that connected the city with Kiev was destroyed by the Russians: it was the sign, according to him, that he had to stay. He had had the answer to his question “.
And the sign also reached him, the parish priest of the resistance who never fled from Kiev. “In my work on the radio we had to organize everything, despite the war, always live, except at night. The first days when they bombed – tells Adnkronos Alexsey Samsonov – I told my staff that they were free to stay or go away. . They did what they felt and I was alone with a nun. I didn’t know how to do it. And it was then, when I was most heartbroken, that other people began to arrive, the volunteers. God had provided, we found the money, people to help us broadcast. And even though the Russians fired rockets at the telecommunication towers, four of us hit, the radio never stopped working. I didn’t leave, and I did well. I never even thought. This is where people need prayer and comfort the most. “
Not only doubts, even the humanity of the Ukrainian priest can collide with a message of peace that is too high, that of turning the other cheek, of forgiving. “For us the Via Crucis, with the two Ukrainian and Russian women together, was a scandal – explains the parish priest of Kiev – It is not that we do not want peace, the moment of reconciliation will come, but the Way of the Cross was really there when we discovered what they had done in Bucha. Just when staying with the Russians has never proved so difficult. So with the patriarch Kirill – he urges – who has always blessed the Russian army, which has always supported Putin. Many Orthodox of the patriarchate of Moscow feel betrayed, they thought it was a father but he turned out to be a bad stepfather for them. You can’t talk, certainly you have to seek peace, but it’s difficult. A friend of mine, a faithful of Mikolayv who was bombed, called me, trusting me that , although Jesus says he loves enemies, she cannot now. This country, once the war is over, will never be the same again, the people are not the same, even relations between the churches will change “.
Finally, as regards the territorial defense rich in volunteers among ordinary and inexperienced people, Samsonov recalls the commitment of priests who “cannot take up arms – he underlines – but can continue their mission. In the army there are many chaplains who go to the camp dressed as soldiers to pray with the military, so that their hearts do not get too hard during the war, so that they can one day return to their lives as they were before, not brutalized by violence and evil. Our task, later Bucha and other crimes, is not to become like them, but to stay normal. The only thing I know is that Christ is here and he suffers with us. Behind this war is Satan who wants to destroy lives. I’m sure Putin is possessed, he is not a normal person and our war is not only on the battlefield but also spiritual. I asked the Lord for a hand. But many faithful also dedicate their prayers to the Russians, Putin, the military to return to the king go away. Soon”.
(by Silvia Mancinelli)
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