LVIV, Ukraine – On the eve of the most important Christian religious holiday of the year, Ukrainians adhered to centuries-old Easter traditions in the shadow of a war that brought devastation and grief to much of the country.
In the Greek Catholic Church of the Transfiguration in the historic center of Lviv, a number of clergymen stood by the wicker baskets they had brought, covered with embroidered towels and filled with sausages, smoked hams, Easter breads, butter and cheese to be blessed by a priest.
It was a ritual celebrated throughout Ukraine in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Eastern Catholic churches, which follow the Julian calendar and will celebrate Easter this Sunday.
The food was intended to be eaten in complex Easter snacks after Sunday’s liturgy.
Other residents carried Easter baskets along the cobbled streets on their way to churches of all denominations that surround the central market area, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
As air raid sirens sounded, cafes closed and a group of street musicians took a break from folk music played on traditional Ukrainian string instruments.
At a nearby crossroads, some residents had placed bouquets of flowers at the feet of a statue of the Virgin Mary, next to piles of white sandbags designed to protect the statue from bombing. Since the beginning of the war, churches have wrapped religious statues in protective shrouds and plastered stained glass.
Russia, which is also predominantly Eastern Orthodox, this week rejected calls by Ukraine and the United Nations for an Easter ceasefire.
Although most Ukrainians and Russians are Orthodox Christians, the continuing smoldering tensions between church leaders in the two nations have deepened in recent years. In 2019, the church in Ukraine, which had been subordinated to Moscow since 1686, gained its independence.
Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces are holding Easter sweet bread near their trenches in a forest defensive position on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv on Saturday. Credit … David Gutenfelder for The New York Times
Russian airstrikes have killed at least seven people in Lviv this week, but the city has been spared most of the fighting raging in the east of the country in the past two months. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have sought refuge here or traveled to Poland and other countries.
At the central railway station in Lviv, volunteers distributed Easter chocolates to displaced children arriving from other cities. A family who received the treats walked for five days with their four children from the devastated southern port of Mariupol on their way to the relative safety of western Ukraine.
Many Ukrainians said they adhered to their traditions in the face of the general sadness and fear brought on by the war.
“There is not so much happiness in people’s faces and eyes this year,” said Miroslava Zaharkov, an English teacher at the college. “Many people are grieving, many men have gone to the front.
Ms. Zakharkov, 48, said she had done a traditional Easter cleaning of her home in a village near Lviv. She had also baked Easter bread and prepared food to put in a basket to be blessed in church.
“We hope there will be no bombs and alarms, but no one knows what will happen, so we are a little scared,” she said.
For many of the displaced, the war also means separation from their families.
Anna Mukoida, 22, said it was the first Easter she would spend away from her family, who stayed in Bila Tserkva, a town 50 miles south of the capital Kyiv, as she fled to the southwestern city of Chernivtsi.
Despite the danger and uncertainty, many Ukrainians were determined to stick to the tradition.
“Easter during the war is like the sun on a rainy day,” Ms Mukoida said. “It is very important now to have such days, just to feel alive and to remember that there was life before the war.
22-year-old Neonila Vodolska was also displaced. She was staying in the western city of Kalush, away from her family in Kyiv. To alleviate the pain of parting with her family, she said she bought a white shirt with traditional dark red embroidery to wear on Easter.
“I now fully understand the importance of preserving such traditions,” Ms Vodolska said. “To do something normal, to celebrate something that reminds me of the good times, of my childhood, brings me hope.”
Priest Photius blesses Easter sweet breads on Saturday before they are distributed by volunteers from the Humanitarian Aid Center in Zaporizhia, Ukraine. Credit … Lincy Addario for The New York Times
In most parts of the country, curfew remained in effect on Saturday night, when many Christians traditionally held vigils and celebrated a midnight liturgy in memory of those who waited on Holy Saturday for the tomb of Christ. Instead, many people planned to watch the liturgy on television.
“We need to understand that gathering civilians at a pre-determined night service can be a target for missiles, planes and artillery,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement Saturday morning.
In Lviv, authorities initially announced that curfew would be lifted, but then re-imposed it after receiving intelligence that pro-Russian saboteurs may be planning attacks in the city.
Earlier this week, the head of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Epiphanius, asked clerics to abandon Easter night services in war-torn areas of the country, fearing Russian bombing.
“It’s not hard to believe that this will really happen because the enemy is trying to destroy us completely,” he said in a televised speech.
Add Comment