During Holy Week and on Easter Sunday, I celebrated and prayed with my brothers and sisters in Ukraine, in communion with the whole Order and with the entire Ukrainian people. On Tuesday 31st March, I met part of the community of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Kharkiv, who are temporarily based in Jaworzno, Poland.
On 1st April, Holy Wednesday, we crossed the border between Poland and Ukraine on foot, and made our way to our convent-sanctuary in Berdychiv, a journey of approximately nine hours. Accompanying me were Fr Tadeusz, the Provincial of Poland; Fr Józef, a Polish member of the Berdychiv community; and Zenia, a Ukrainian student. At the border, we visited the community and crèche of the Sisters of Bl. Honorat Koźmiński, who are good friends of ours and are very active in both Ukraine and Poland. We arrived in Berdychiv at 11pm, where the entire community was waiting for us.
On Holy Thursday, 2nd April, we visited the nearby community of Gwozdawa, where two brothers care for this quiet spiritual centre. In the afternoon, back in Berdychiv, the sirens sounded and the children from the school situated just beside the sanctuary took shelter in our underground church shelter, where they continued their music lessons. We visited Natascha’s office, where she coordinates a programme providing social, psychological, economic and administrative support to various groups, including children, the elderly, the sick, veterans and families. At 6pm, we celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. I noticed several women were deeply moved during the washing of the feet. The hour-and-a-half-long celebration was presided over by the Ukrainian Prior, Fr Vitaly.
On 3rd April, we set out for Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, one of the regions close to the front line where the war continues. We stopped in Kyiv to greet our brothers, then continued to Kharkiv, an eight-hour journey along roads full of potholes and difficult to navigate. We celebrated the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion in the chapel of the Carmelite nuns of Kharkiv. Four sisters, who had come from Poland, were there at the time, taking advantage of a quiet in the fighting that has afflicted the city. The celebration included four sisters, four priests, and four lay faithful.
Early on the morning of 4 April (Holy Saturday), we received a visit from Bishop Pavlo Honcharuk of Kharkiv. We then returned to Kyiv, where Bishop Vitalij Kryvytskyi was waiting for us at the cathedral. We visited the famous Maidan Square, where tribute is paid to all the victims of the war – a deeply striking place, recalling the beginning of the war in 2014 and honouring the thousands who have died since 2022. We celebrated the Easter Vigil at our parish in Kyiv, in the presence of a large gathering of the faithful. The singing of the Alleluia was profoundly moving, in the force and conviction of the cry in Ukrainian: “Christ is risen, Христос воскрес!!!”
On Easter Sunday, 5th April, we celebrated Mass at the church of the Discalced Carmelite Sisters in Kyiv. The community, comprising six sisters, had just returned from Poland after spending two years there. They showed us the marks left by a missile that had fallen only a few metres from the monastery. During the day, we visited an association led by Boris (a former soldier and pastor), which supports families of deceased or missing soldiers, orphans, and soldiers in financial difficulty. It is a remarkable initiative in which we Carmelites are actively involved.
We visited a care home housing many people displaced by the war, who were able to bring with them only what fitted into a single suitcase. They keep all their belongings under their beds. We embraced them, blessed them, and gave them scapulars and rosaries. The final visit of the day took us to the hospital for wounded soldiers. Entering several rooms, we were deeply moved by these soldiers, grateful for our visit, who showed us photographs of their children when we asked about their families.
On Monday 6th April, the day of our departure, there were embraces and expressions of gratitude, a mutual sense of communion and of family after having lived together, in such difficult circumstances, these days of celebration and solidarity, of blessing and encouragement.
