In the photo: celebrations for Fede e Luce's 40th anniversary in Lviv, Ukraine, attended by communities from Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, and Georgia in 2012
Larysa follows the war that has consumed her country, Ukraine, from Naples, where she has made her home for many years with her son Igor. She discovered the Fede e Luce community in her native land, where roughly thirty groups exist (here is her account from a few years back). We have gathered her voice—along with that of G.—two witnesses to the anguish of a war for which no reason can be found.
Words have run out. Only tears remain. All of Ukraine now hangs on the cross, as Jesus did. We pray because only God can hear us and help—because only He can close the sky over Ukraine. Men will not do it. So our hope is God alone. I followed the evening prayers from Ukraine for a while, but only at times when I wasn't volunteering. For weeks, every evening, I went through supermarkets searching for boxes. Here in Naples, humanitarian aid was pouring into the Greek Catholic church like an avalanche, and we needed cardboard to pack it into trucks for Ukraine. I threw myself into that work. On my free days we went to every rally, every protest, every event organized by our countrymen in the city. We were there. The last one was a concert at the San Carlo theater in Naples—a ballet performed together by Russian and Ukrainian dancers. We were there to tell Italians that now, through culture and art, you cannot build peace. Because after what happened in Bucha, how can we stand together on the same stage? How can we embrace each other? How can we pretend we're seeking peace between cultures? I have no words for what I feel. My Fede e Luce community in Ukraine is not in grave danger (read here about the situation of Ukraine's Fede e Luce communities). My brother who was in Kyiv has left too. Other friends are in the Carpathians. One friend with disabled children couldn't move because she'd had leg surgery, but now she's safe in Poland. About the others, I know nothing. I have no contact with priests in Ukraine—only here in Naples with the one from the Greek Catholic church, and we do everything we can, and the impossible: prayers, money, supplies. It goes on. We pray God will end this evil. I'm grateful that G. managed to escape Russia and is safe. Now she can speak and share her feelings in a way she never could there. I have a niece, my brother's daughter, who lives in Saint Petersburg. She called me on the first day of the bombing, crying, asking forgiveness. But forgiveness for what? What could she, just a girl, have done? In general, the Russian people hate us—they hate the Ukrainian people and want to wipe us from the earth. That is Putin's goal. And we must resist and win. I believe we have a mission to destroy the evil in Russia, with its president who wants to become emperor of a vast empire. We must have the strength to win and fulfill this mission. My embrace, and my gratitude for the support that Italians and Fede e Luce are giving us.