War in Ukraine Update - Ivan Rusyn
July 25th 2023
Ivan Rusyn is president of the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary (UETS) in Kyiv. UETS has been a HART partner for over ten years, and Ivan is a personal friend of mine. In a recent interview with the Christian publication, Plough, he recently shared his thoughts on the war and its effect on the Church. These insights are helpful as we in the West attempt to understand the profound impact of this tragic conflict on fellow Christians.
It's been over a year since the Russian invasion. How has your faith been affected by this year?
At the beginning, of course, I was filled with questions: What is going on? Where is God? Did he leave Ukraine along with the millions of refugees, or did he stay with us? Then I realized that these were the wrong questions. I started to think, why am I questioning God? These are questions that God has to ask. People, humanity, what are you doing? What's going on? Because it was not God, who was killing people in Bucha. It was other people, many of whom even consider themselves Christians.
At the moment, I am still struggling with questions: Will I follow Jesus even if he never responds positively to my prayers? And frankly speaking, my heart seems to answer, yes, I will. Because who Jesus is more important than what he does.
Sometimes you can't see God, and you are quite sure that he's not there. And sometimes, his will is beyond our understanding. Sometimes he does things in his way, and we might not like it. But I am ready to say to God: You are more important than what you do. Will I survive this war? Will my family survive? Will my seminary survive? I will follow you anyway. Somehow during this war, my relationship with God has become more real.
In your first interview, you told us how more people in Ukraine were looking to churches because of the war. Is that still the case now?
Yes. Over eight million people left Ukraine, but our churches are not smaller. In Ukraine, people are coming to God in different ways than before. In many churches, when a person comes to the Church, we have this tradition of the sinner's prayer, in which he publicly confesses that he accepts Jesus Christ as his savior.
Now people are coming to God in different ways. These prayers aren't taking place in churches but in shelters and houses when people face challenges or when they experience love and care from strangers, and they cannot explain how in the world these people found and helped them.
So, our nation has a different perspective on God at this moment. I have talked with thousands of people during these twelve months of the war, and I have never heard anyone curse God or say anything against God. People always say, "Praise God, we are alive." "I was praying, and God saved me." "I was praying, and you came to pick me up."
Another significant moment is when people receive Bibles. Very often, when we give someone the Bible, that person kisses it. And you can see that the Bible means something special. In Ukraine, a new nation is being born, one that relies on God and one that is developing a culture of sympathy and generosity where almost everybody wants to do something for others.
It's been over a year since the Russian invasion. How has your faith been affected by this year?
At the beginning, of course, I was filled with questions: What is going on? Where is God? Did he leave Ukraine along with the millions of refugees, or did he stay with us? Then I realized that these were the wrong questions. I started to think, why am I questioning God? These are questions that God has to ask. People, humanity, what are you doing? What's going on? Because it was not God, who was killing people in Bucha. It was other people, many of whom even consider themselves Christians.
At the moment, I am still struggling with questions: Will I follow Jesus even if he never responds positively to my prayers? And frankly speaking, my heart seems to answer, yes, I will. Because who Jesus is more important than what he does.
Sometimes you can't see God, and you are quite sure that he's not there. And sometimes, his will is beyond our understanding. Sometimes he does things in his way, and we might not like it. But I am ready to say to God: You are more important than what you do. Will I survive this war? Will my family survive? Will my seminary survive? I will follow you anyway. Somehow during this war, my relationship with God has become more real.
In your first interview, you told us how more people in Ukraine were looking to churches because of the war. Is that still the case now?
Yes. Over eight million people left Ukraine, but our churches are not smaller. In Ukraine, people are coming to God in different ways than before. In many churches, when a person comes to the Church, we have this tradition of the sinner's prayer, in which he publicly confesses that he accepts Jesus Christ as his savior.
Now people are coming to God in different ways. These prayers aren't taking place in churches but in shelters and houses when people face challenges or when they experience love and care from strangers, and they cannot explain how in the world these people found and helped them.
So, our nation has a different perspective on God at this moment. I have talked with thousands of people during these twelve months of the war, and I have never heard anyone curse God or say anything against God. People always say, "Praise God, we are alive." "I was praying, and God saved me." "I was praying, and you came to pick me up."
Another significant moment is when people receive Bibles. Very often, when we give someone the Bible, that person kisses it. And you can see that the Bible means something special. In Ukraine, a new nation is being born, one that relies on God and one that is developing a culture of sympathy and generosity where almost everybody wants to do something for others.
Click to close