Vatican News / Karol Darmoros
Return from the front
Fr. Oleksandr Bohomaz, a Greek Catholic priest serving in Zaporizhzhia, himself experienced the Russian occupation of Melitopol. As he says, many soldiers are returning home today after suffering severe wounds and frontline experiences.
“After what they saw in the war, the death of comrades-in-arms, severe wounds and battles, these men have changed, their psyche has changed,” he explains in an interview with Vatican News.
The war has also left its mark on veterans’ wives. “While waiting for their husbands, the women also changed. They adapted to new living conditions without a husband,” adds Fr. Bohomaz. When the spouses start living together again after years, tensions, disappointments and conflicts arise.
The experience of occupation made Fr. Bohomaz particularly committed to military chaplaincy. “I saw the occupation and saw that there is no freedom or normal life in it. I understood that the fact that we can live in Zaporizhzhia, and our Church can exist and develop, we owe to the military,” he emphasizes.
From distance to marriage
The retreat program combined psychological work, discussions on marital relationships, prayer and an evangelizing element. Viktoria Borodina, one of the coordinators, recalls that the beginnings were not easy. “At first, everyone was so prickly and unfriendly,” she says.
One couple was even afraid to participate in the trip when they learned it would also have a spiritual dimension. Ultimately, it was this couple that decided to have a church wedding, and after returning, they attended the liturgy at the parish in Zaporizhzhia twice. “You can see that a certain conversion took place in them,” Borodina says.
In total, two couples received the sacrament of marriage. One had been in a civil union for seven years and has three children, the other for thirty years. After returning, the participants continue to meet at the parish. Seven out of nine couples came to the first such meeting.
Four retreats
The State Council of the Knights of Columbus financially supported a series of four trips. The first has already taken place, three more are planned, and the organizers also want to continue regular family meetings. After the end of the entire cycle, a joint pilgrimage to Medjugorje is planned.
Mykola Mostowiak, State Delegate of the Knights of Columbus in Ukraine, emphasizes that this is not the first initiative of its kind. Knights from Ivano-Frankivsk have already organized psychological rehabilitation for veterans and their wives, combining it with prayer and spiritual direction. As he points out, the project has brought good results. “We support the project to help veterans from Zaporizhzhia, strengthening hope for this part of the country that suffers the most,” he says.
The Knights also want to prepare parishes and local communities for the return of veterans. “We all need to learn sensitivity to those who have given immensely for the good of all of us,” Mostowiak points out. As he says, help cannot be limited to material support. “Veterans and their families need us to notice them in society. Simple gestures of respect and gratitude are what has the highest value,” he adds.
Fr. Bohomaz puts the goal of this ministry even more broadly: “We see this open wound and we want to be useful. We also see in this an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel and point people to Jesus Christ, who is the physician of souls and bodies.”
