Adventist believers in conflict-torn eastern Ukraine can
recount stories of horror and brushes with death, but more importantly, they
say, their faith has grown as they lean on Jesus and share His peace with
neighbors.
Hundreds of Adventists have fled the violence that is
thought to have killed more than 1,000 people since pro-Russia rebels seized
parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April.
Still, Adventist pastors and many other members have stayed
in their communities, caring for neighbors, sharing religious literature, and
even baptizing new believers.
None of the 3,500 Adventists who live in eastern Ukraine has
been killed or injured in the violence, and no church building or Adventist
home is known to have sustained major damage — even as neighboring buildings have
been destroyed, church leaders said.
“Thanks to the Lord, we have not received reports of any
Adventist church members dying in the conflict,” said Guillermo Biaggi,
president of the church’s Euro-Asia Division, which includes Ukraine and many other countries of the former Soviet Union.
“Yet we mourn with families who have lost their loved ones,”
Biaggi said. “And we continue to do our best to help people in eastern
Ukraine and to pray for a peaceful solution to the conflict.”
It is unclear how many Adventists have fled eastern Ukraine.
But the church’s Eastern Ukrainian Mission has evacuated about 180 people who
asked for assistance.
In recent days, the Mission has started evacuating
Adventists from Donetsk, the regional capital with 1.01 million people, as well
as from Luhansk and Horlivka as violence has flared in those cities. At least 30
believers have asked the church for help, and the Mission has provided them with
tickets on public transportation and other moving assistance, Mission leaders
said.
Earlier, about 150 Adventists were evacuated from Kramatorsk
(population 181,025) and Sloviansk (population 129,600) at a cost of 50,000
Ukrainian hryvnia ($4,250), the leaders said. Fifty-four of the people — 45
children and nine adults — were sent to an Adventist sanatorium in the Dnipropetrovsk
region, where they were put up for 20 days at a cost of 56,000 hryvnia
($4,765).
Other believers were given shelter in churches or with
families elsewhere in Ukraine and in Russia.
Scores of Russian Adventists have also fled eastern Ukraine
and received sanctuary across the border in Russia. The Euro-Asia Division,
working with the local branch of ADRA, the Adventist relief agency, has
earmarked 800,000 rubles ($22,800) to meet the needs of the Russian refugees.
Despite the hostilities, 34 people have been baptized in
eastern Ukraine in the past six months, including three men in Luhansk on July
13.
Armed men stopped the Adventists after the July 13 baptism
and demanded to see their documents, church leaders said. After questioning,
the Adventists were allowed to leave.
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