The Holy Dormition Univ Lavra in the Lviv region has become a shelter for internally displaced persons. Now fifty people from Donetsk, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia regions live there. From the first days of the war, the monastery accepts those who run away from the war.
Internally displaced persons live in two guest houses attached to the monastery. Some people have found work, while others are helping in the monastery, Suspilne reports.
"They help us in different ways. If there is a person who is an electrician, then he helps in the monastery to do everything with electricity, repairs something, people help with landscaping, that is, clean territories, and clean houses. Many men and women went to the candle shop to the coal shop, where they packed various candles and coals. We have people with disabilities," says rector Makary Dutka.
People also help you work in the kitchen.
"The girls said, cut the potatoes, then we are such small helpers. The girls cook there while we clean and cut," says an IDP from Mykolayiv, Olena Zholobova.
Earlier, volunteers brought humanitarian aid to the monastery for refugees. In recent months, there has been almost no such assistance. Therefore, they buy food with money that they receive from the state as compensation for the costs of temporary placement of IDPs and donations from people.
The rector of the Univ Lavra says that during the time that migrants live in the church, the monastery has already managed to conduct several rituals.
"We even started with our first weddings. We held several Sacraments of Baptism, 5-6 children in adulthood and one such greatest joy — a girl named Maria- born about 3-4 weeks ago. Her mother stayed here for 6 months. She gave birth, and we baptized her child here," says the rector of the Holy Dormition Univ Lavra.