Faith Withstand Amid Ruins. Orthodox Easter in Chernihiv's Liberated Villages

Photo story by Roman Pilipey, editor Nadiia Dryzytska
December, 2024

The residents of Lukashivka village bring their Easter baskets to The Church of the Ascension early in the morning for the Easter Sunday service. They light candles and await the priest. Since the local church was destroyed by Russian forces, the villagers had to hold the service outdoors, against walls scattered with debris and marked by bullet holes.

The Lukashivka is located 15 kilometers from Chernihiv. This small settlement, with a pre-war population of just over 450 people, was under Russian occupation for 21 days in March 2022 during the full-scale invasion. After seizing the village, Russian troops established their headquarters in the local church, The Church of the Ascension. Russians also used the church as an ammunition depot and set up a torture chamber where local residents were executed. Due to shelling and fires, everything inside the church was destroyed, but the building itself partially survived. Despite this, the locals came together for the second year in a row to celebrate the holiday and demonstrate their resilience.

Ukrainian photographer Roman Pilipey attended the Easter services in the villages of Lukashivka and Krasne in the Chernihiv region on May 5, 2024, two years after the region’s liberation. Photos were taken for AFP Photo.

People wait with baskets of Easter cakes, eggs, and food to be blessed by a Ukrainian priest outside the Church of the Ascension in Lukashivka, Chernigiv region, on Orthodox Easter, May 5, 2024.

The Church of the Ascension in the Lukashivka village is the religious and cultural center of the local community. It was built in 1913 in the style of diocesan architecture on the site of a wooden church at the end of the 18th century. After the Second World War, the Soviet authorities removed all the icons from the church and turned the building into a warehouse. Services were resumed only in 1988, before the fall of the Soviet regime.

Orthodox devotees with Easter baskets receive a blessing from a priest near the Church of the Ascension in Lukashivka, Chernigiv region, on May 5, 2024.

After the liberation of Lukashivka at the end of March 2022, during the counteroffensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, hundreds of shell fragments and remnants of munitions were discovered on the grounds of the destroyed church. Additionally, the bodies of civilians tortured by Russian forces were found both in the churchyard and inside the church itself.

People with Easter baskets are blessed by a Ukrainian priest outside the Church of the Ascension, destroyed during the Russian occupation in spring 2022, in Lukashivka, Chernigiv region, on May 5, 2024.

Orthodox devotees attend the Easter procession outside the Church of the Ascension, destroyed during the Russian occupation in spring 2022, in Lukashivka, Chernigiv region, on May 4, 2024.

Having endured three weeks of Russian occupation in March, the religious community of Lukashivka decided in the summer to transition from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) Moscow Patriarchate to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The decision was nearly unanimous: 99 members voted in favor of transferring the church to the OCU, aligning with the local desire to distance themselves from ties associated with the UOC.

*The Ecumenical Patriarchate recognizes the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) as the sole canonical successor of the Kyiv Metropolis, which was restored within the Ecumenical Patriarchate on October 11, 2018, and reorganized at the Unification Council on December 15, 2018. In January 2019, the OCU received the tomos granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

People walk with Easter baskets outside the Church of the Ascension, destroyed during the Russian occupation in spring 2022, on Orthodox Easter in Lukashivka, Chernigiv region, on May 5, 2024.

After the service in Lukashivka, the current priest of the church, Father Serhii, travels to the community in the village of Krasne to conduct the Easter service there as well.

Orthodox devotees listen to a Ukrainian priest Serhii after being blessed on Orthodox Easter in the village of Krasne, Chernigiv region, on May 5, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Despite all the destruction and the aftermath of occupation, religious life in the community is being revived and continues. “Although it’s still hard to recall the occupation, we are slowly rebuilding. There is faith. There is hope. People are changing,” — says Father Serhii.

Orthodox devotees light candles beside baskets of Easter delights, waiting for a blessing from a Ukrainian priest on Orthodox Easter in Krasne, Chernigiv region, on May 5, 2024.

Russian war crimes against religious sites are being documented as part of the “Religion on Fire” project, which involves experts in international humanitarian law. Based on documentary evidence, experts analyze each case individually. According to their data, as of October 31, 2024, a total of 603 religious objects have been recorded as damaged or destroyed since February 2022. Of these, one-quarter are no longer usable due to significant damage or destruction caused by Russian attacks. Additionally, at least 25 clergy members have lost their lives during this period.

Orthodox devotees wait for a blessing in Krasne, Chernigiv region, on May 5, 2024.

Orthodox devotees listen to Ukrainian priest Serhii after being blessed on Orthodox Easter in Krasne, Chernigiv region, on May 5, 2024.

In an interview with CBS on December 11, 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the Russian army had killed 50 clergy members and destroyed around 700 churches. “They killed them in different ways. There is complete evidence of how they tortured them. Why did they torture them? Just because they were ‘supposed’ to serve Patriarch Kirill and their church, but a priest serves the people and God. The priests refused, and for that, they were executed. And what do they gain from destroying around 700 churches? They attacked them with bombs and missiles. In the areas they occupied within our country, they simply set these churches on fire,” — Zelenskyy said.

Orthodox devotees sit in a car with baskets of Easter delights after being blessed by a Ukrainian priest in Krasne, Chernigiv region, on May 5, 2024.

Roman Pilipey is a Ukrainian photographer based in Kyiv. When the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Roman was in Beijing, the city where he was living at that time. He immediately left China and arrived in Kyiv on 28 February 2022. Since then, he has been documenting the ongoing war in his native country.