There is a bombed, smashed and burnt Church of St Michael near the village of Velyka Vereshchytsia in Yavoriv region.
There is a bombed, smashed and burnt Church of St Michael near the village of Velyka Vereshchytsia in Yavoriv region.
Once people lived nearby, and on Stalin's orders170 villages were displacedin the 1940sto create a Europe's largest landfill. The church building was allocated to gunners and armored units as a target. In this manner the Soviet authorities wanted to destroy the fear of God in soldiers, ZIK reports.
“Five thousand people lived in the village of Velyka Vereshchytsia. The church was the largest in the neighborhood. It was built back in 1927, and consecrated by Sheptytskyy,” Father Ivan Revutsky, rector of the church of the Blessed Virgin of. Vereshchytsia village retells the story.
The Soviet government, which defined the size and range of the landfill, erased from the ground any signs of former villages. In addition to St Michael's Church another 12 churches were destroyed because of the attacks. The church in Velyka Vereshchytsia was destroyed slowly and with great cynicism. The church served as a target for the soldiers. The Communists’ choice of a building was not accidental. Once, when the domes fell down, the soldiers were driven togetherto make new, fake ones, so that tanks and guns targeted at the temple. In this way, they were taught fire a target and the fear of God was destroyed.
The shelling stopped when Ukraine gained independence. And since 2007, the works on clearing the premises began in the church.
Then the parishioners, clergy and military took part. Since then are prayers. Now the church will continue to use military, but only for tactical exercises. Already 24 years there has been a ban on shelling it with heavy machinery and only blanks have been fired.
“They already have a sense of holiness. We all walk under the Almighty and know what to do and what not to. A landfill is a landfill, and it should be,” says Yuri, a volunteer.
Art critics believe that it is not necessary to restore this church. But its ruins are a reminder to future generations about the horrors of the totalitarian regime. However, you must make the effort to keep the church from further destruction.
"Every stone, every brick should be let as is. They do not need to be brought together in one pile. Deep conservation is needed. Even if the grass up springs, it will be a symbol that nature prevails. Nature is from the Lord,” said restorer Myroslav Otkovych.
The hunched and crippled church really needs rescue today. What the explosions of shellsdid not succeedto do can be completed by the elementsover time: rain, snow and wind. So now the community of the surrounding villages, under the leadership of Father John and volunteer George seeks support of the patrons who would help preserve the destroyed church.