Some have asked me if Ukrainian president Zelensky is forcing all churches in Ukraine to get out of the country. This was prompted by a comment by Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson. What Zelensky said was only regarding “Russian” Orthodox Churches in Ukraine because they were suspected of supporting Russia. On the other hand there are “Ukrainian” Orthodox Church in Ukraine. That is because Ukraine is actually where the Orthodox church initially began about a millennia ago. The Russian Orthodox in Russia actually came from Ukraine initially. See above one of the massive orthodox churches we visited in Kiev.
Recently my son Caleb in Ukraine wrote. ”Earlier this month one Russian missile made it through our air defenses and struck a Russian Orthodox Monastery on the Southern end of town. This seemed very ironic to many, as the Russian Orthodox churches are controlled by Moscow and are generally suspected to support Russian aggression in Ukraine!” Now you know the rest of the story.
But there is also good news about churches in the midst of this war. One of our missionaries there said, “The Gospel is preached everywhere: from chaplains on the front lines to pastors at the bread lines, donated aid allows churches to share more than just physical bread.” The gospel continues to out in the midst of war and confusion. See Acts 5:18-20 to see how God does His work of getting the gospel out and growing churches even in the midst of massive opposition.
Keep Ukraine in your prayers. Our son and family will be here early May. We also hope to be seeing some of our Ukrainian national partners in our church the end of May.
Pastor Mark