The war was a challenge for parents who let their children go to defend their land against the enemy. On the one hand, this is a reason for parental joy for a brave and loyal child, on the other is the awareness of the deadly danger in their life.
The reflections of Pastor Mokhnenko reveal how the father takes the challenge of time, tells c4u.org.ua.
"I buried him (in the mind's eye) three times this month… The first time was when he, my adopted hero son, jumped out of my car to the roar of shelling and ran away to fight with the brother soldiers. I caught up with him, hugged him, blessed him, sobbing, and left him on the front line, handing him over to the commander of a small unit with the best recommendations.
A day later, a huge column of rushists entered this village... the forces were not equal, the battle was not long, and I, having learned about this, was crying into the sky. However, two days later, my son called me for 30 seconds and said that he was alive, that he and his friend were hiding and would be getting out of the encirclement.
Then, after three more weeks of silence, I thought my boy dead for the second time. And suddenly, a call that I no longer expected, for another blessed thirty seconds: "Father, God is with us. We're alive! But it takes a miracle to get to our troops alive.."
The last time was very hard. A call from the village where I said goodbye to my son, with a very simple text: "Your people died", and the call ended. This is where I buried him for the third time, and my cry to the sky was especially terrible.
But the next day, after this terrible news, one of the members of our chaplaincy team patted me on the shoulder: "Pastor, do you want some good news? Your son is alive and already in Albert's car! Let's go and meet them!"
My son got enough sleep, washed up, and at his request, I took him to his combat unit, where he had already fought a lot with the 14th Підрозділ the unit, by the way, is very cool to fry the tails of the Russian invaders! I am grateful to my son for being alive!
Famous pastor and chaplain from Mariupol Gennady Mokhnenko, the founder and head of the largest children's Rehabilitation Center "The Pilgrim Republic" and a network of Rehabilitation Centers for adults, the author of several books, the hero of documentaries, appealed to the parents of Russian soldiers and urged them not to send their children to the slaughterhouse.
In his fervent appeal to the Russians, Gennady Mokhnenko, for whom Russian is his native language, said he was a father of three biological and 35 adopted children. He has chosen the path of a pastor, although, to date, when faced with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he is ready to take up arms to protect his children, city, and land. The pastor urges fathers and mothers of Russian soldiers not to fall for the Kremlin's lies and protect their children from death.
Yet grief still befell the pastor's family.
In Mariupol, the invaders killed Gennady Mokhnenko's adopted daughter.
"Putin's scum killed my daughter in Mariupol. Saving us from the "evil Banderovites" and "returning us to the bosom of the Slavic peoples and the Russian world" to the apartment recently received by Vika, a former orphan, they fired from a tank,” said the pastor.
According to Putin, "as part of the operation for demilitarization and denazification,” the apartment of an orphan, my 27th adopted daughter, was shelled from a tank... as part of 'demilitarization'. Do you hear it all, Russians? All of you who are "out of politics" believed all these justifications "we are not there" for eight years. Inhumans, do you hear??? You shelled the orphan's apartment from a tank... It's called "demilitarization"…
However, you will be told on TV that this is just a Ukrainian fake like the air bombs that are raining down on Mariupol right now. This is, of course, all done by "the Azov Regiment" in my city. They also allege that "my daughter" is not an orphan but a fake fashion model. "These are all insidious provocations of the West, NATO and the CIA, and your tanks naturally "save" us and our children. Scum. Inhumans. Heaven will pay you back... for lying, for silence, for cowardice, and for stupid eight-year-old consent to be deceived by propaganda. For not resisting the usurpers and Chekist maniacs who took over your country…
However, you are already paying with the lives of thousands of your sons-occupiers, whose bodies are rotting in the fields of Ukraine... while I asked you, begged, persuaded you. What are you doing? Now I am not capable of reflecting… Like many parents and mothers at this time… I'm so sorry, daughter, I could not protect you. I tried."
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Dear friends, Pastor Gennady Mokhnenko and his chaplaincy team need support and prayers. They are evacuating people from Mariupol and trying to cover the needs of the frontline territories.
You can financially support this service using the following banking details:
PrivatBank: 5218 5757 0086 1956
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The account of the ICF "Pilgrim". You can check your banking details with your accountant by phone: +380679069758 (Tatiana)
Mariupol | "People are dying": how those who did not leave the destroyed city survive