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The only Romanian church in the western Ukrainian Lviv region has become an important place of prayer for Christian Orthodox refugees fleeing the war.
The Wallachian Church in downtown Lviv is dedicated to Virgin Mary and her assumption, was built with money donated by Moldavian hospodar Alexandru Lapusneanu in 1559. It is the church where Petru Movila was ordained metropolitan bishop of Halych and Kyiv.
These days, the place of worship attracts many believers fleeing from Kharkov, Kyiv and Zaporozhe.
Olena Lihtar, 47, used to live in Kharkov until the beginning of the war. On Sunday morning, she went to the Wallachian Church to pray for herself and for the millions of refugees, for the Ukrainian soldiers and for the whole of Ukraine.
"We all pray, no matter where we are. We go to pray. We all pray for Ukraine to exist as our homeland. We do not want to go to Poland or the Czech Republic, and we thank all the countries that are standing in solidarity with us. However, we want to live in Ukraine, in our homeland. We want to live here," she said.
Lihtar does not understand the reason for the war, especially since traditionalist Ukrainians and Russian-language speakers seemed to live well together. She has a vivid memory of the war and its disasters, but she is especially tormented that her husband stayed back fighting at home in Kharkov.
"I was born in Ukraine and I come from Kharkov. It's a city where both Ukrainian and Russian are spoken. We can communicate in both Ukrainian and Russian, and when they tell us they're coming to free us ...we do not need to be freed. We are citizens of Ukraine, we love the country and that is why we will be Ukrainians no matter what language we speak. The events that are taking place are powerful. The world has entered the 21st century, and when bombs fall on our heads, military planes fly over us, when you hear them launching rockets, you could have not imagined that. We've been in Lviv for ten days. Me and my 70-year-old mother. Our men stayed back in Kharkov, in defence units. We don't have houses anymore, they were destroyed. Our business has been shut down. It is destroyed. How do we survive? I don't know what to say. All I know is that we were viciously attacked. We have been bombed, we are destroyed as a nation. That is not normal. Ukraine existed and Ukraine will exist," Lihtar said in a sad voice.
The priests at the Wallachian Church pray at every service for the Ukrainian military, but also for every citizen of Ukraine. They also remember the soldiers killed in the fighting against the Russian army, which invaded Ukraine on February 24.
A child came to one of the priests and asked him to pray for his grandfather, who had died in a bombing raid.
"There are a lot of people coming from Kyiv, from Kharkov, the areas badly affected by the bombings. They've been coming from Zaporozhe lately, too. They come to church honestly. Being in the church uninterruptedly, we realise what problems come to those who end up praying.For example, yesterday [Saturday] there was a little boy, a Russian speaker, who came with a prayer list and two candies for us to pray for his grandfather who died in the bombings. My little one asked me to pray for Sergey's grandfather. Many Russian speakers come here to the church. Today, Lviv is an important centre for receiving refugees from all over Ukraine," said Deacon Yuri Fediv of the Wallachian Church.
The famous Wallachian Church is located in downtown Lviv where hundreds of historic buildings are part of the UNESCO heritage.
Priests, local government and non-governmental organisations defending the historical heritage have covered the stained glass windows so as not to be destroyed by a blast.
"The church is valuable to Lviv and UNESCO for its three architectural styles - Renaissance, Baroque and Classicism. It is heritage that must be protected and promoted. The construction of this church is closely linked to several countries: Moldavia, Greece, and the Patriarchate of Constantinople. It has been subordinate to the Patriarchate of Constantinople since 1594. (...) The church is of great value because of its icons and architectural forms, and is of strategic importance to Christianity, and is one of the main components of theUNESCO heritage. When the war started on February 24, which is undoubtedly Russian aggression against the Ukrainian nation, we and the architects of the city and people of good faith who are not indifferent to the value of the national heritage, covered the stained glass windows of the church not to be destroyed by the blast. These are unique places," said Fediv.
Romanian language and literature teacher Nicolae Costa of Chernivtsi, who is also a tourist guide, tells us that the Church of the Assumption or the Wallachian Church in Lviv has Alexandru Lapusneanu, rulers Movila, Ieremia Movila, and Simion Movila as founders. " Petru Movila attended school in Lviv and in 1633 he was ordained metropolitan bishop of Halych and Kyiv," Costas said.
The Lviv region has been attacked by Russian missiles several times since the beginning of the war.
The latest attack took place on Friday morning and left 30 dead.
More than 2.5 million people live in this region. The capital of the region, the city of Lviv, has a population of over 720,000 inhabitants, being considered the most important city in western Ukraine.
