They gathered in solemn prayer at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington, D.C., two weeks after the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has left death, destruction and misery in its wake.

“We pray for all the dead today,” said Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak, the leader of Ukrainian Catholics in the United States, who presided at the Panakhyda, a Ukrainian prayer service for the dead, on March 10. Later he added, “It’s good to pray together. It’s especially important that together we pray for those that don’t have anyone to pray for them.”

The 50 people gathered at the shrine that evening remembered the innocent victims of Russia’s brutal assault in Ukraine, and in sung prayers they honored the Ukrainian soldiers and civil defense volunteers as “defenders of the defenseless,” praising them for being willing to sacrifice their lives so the people there will remain free. 

Archbishop Gudziak of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia noted that His Beatitude, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych – the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church – had asked Ukrainians there and around the world to pray for those who have been killed in that country.

Since Russia invaded and forcibly annexed Crimea in 2014, and now since the invasion launched there on Feb. 24, almost 20,000 Ukrainians have died, Archbishop Gudziak said, noting that the war’s victims have included children and senior citizens, and people dying of dehydration, hunger and the cold, including some who have tried to flee on negotiated humanitarian corridors that the Russians have continued to bomb.

He noted that the next morning a funeral would be held in Ukraine for Taras Hayduk, who had graduated in recent years with a master’s degree in history from the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.

“He was a delightful man, fascinated by the history of his region, and committed to the unity and sovereignty (of Ukraine),” said Archbishop Gudziak. “He was a student in my classes. He is one of many thousands that have perished in the past weeks.”

While presiding at the prayer service for the dead, Archbishop Gudziak wore purple vestments and held a hand cross, as he stood before a dramatic icon of Jesus known as “The Icon of Extreme Humility.” That icon depicts Jesus as he is being lowered into the tomb from the cross, with his eyes closed and his head resting on his shoulder and his arms crossed in front of him.

“It’s an icon of God’s solidarity with our suffering,” the archbishop said at a press briefing at the shrine that afternoon.

At the prayer service, Archbishop Gudziak noted how that icon was fitting for the season of Lent and reflected what the people of Ukraine are experiencing.

“We walk in Lent toward the Resurrection. There is the Passion and the Crucifixion, but this path always leads to the Resurrection,” he said.

The archbishop noted that signs of new life could be seen in Ukraine, among the unity of the people there, but also in the babies being born and baptized there, even as people huddle for safety in bomb shelters and subway stations. He pointed out how that unity has inspired a renewed alliance among European countries and bipartisan efforts among U.S. legislators approving relief supplies and military aid for the people of Ukraine.

“The inspiration coming from Ukraine is quite paradoxical. It’s actually mystical… It’s the deep belief that the Passion and Crucifixion is a passage to the Resurrection,” Archbishop Gudziak said, adding that reflects people’s faith that Christ ultimately offers them new life and hope.

Praising the heroic efforts of Ukraine’s leaders, its defenders and its ordinary citizens, the archbishop said God is granting them “a mystical vitality that inspires all of us and unites the world.” 

Concluding his reflection during the prayer service, he said, “We have a few weeks left of Lent. We want to come together united, with our thoughts and our prayers and our emotions focused on our faith and the Resurrection.”

Some people at the service wore coats or shirts sewn with traditional Ukrainian patterns, and throughout the evening, they sang prayers in their native language and in English.

Archbishop Gudziak invited people to come forward and share their thoughts about what is happening in Ukraine. The first to speak was Daryna Zarichynska, a student from the Ukrainian Catholic University who had fled the country.

Speaking in Ukrainian with the archbishop translating her remarks into English, she said, “Each one of us is living through this war personally… I hope the war will end soon, and I will be able to come back home to my friends and my family.”

Next, Ivanna Chornopyskyi rose to speak. She is married to fellow Ukrainian native Father Andrii Chornopyskyi, a priest who is completing his doctorate in Washington and assists at the Ukrainian National Shrine. (Eastern Rite Catholic priests are allowed to marry). She said it is heart-rending for her to witness the deadly violence in Ukraine, and she calls her parents back home to make sure they are all right. 

The Chornopyskyi’s young son, Michael, joined his parents at the service, and his mother said the little boy understands what is happening and said to her, “Ukraine is on fire, and we need to pray.”

“Our hope is in the Lord,” she said.

Danylo Graves, a student from Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn, Maryland, said it has been difficult to watch the news about Ukraine, but he added, “I am glad that I am not alone. I have a lot of support, not just from Ukrainians but from my fellow friends at school.”

The teen, who was assisting the clergy at the prayer service, said, “The best thing we can do is pray.”

Dr. Yuri Deychakiwsky, a cardiologist who is a parishioner at the Ukrainian National Catholic Shrine of the Holy Family, said a rabbi told him that the members of his Jewish community are planning to hold a communal fast outside the Russian Embassy in Washington to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

The doctor noted he is part of a group that is funding requests from Ukraine for things like armored vests, walkie-talkies, medical supplies and vehicles, but he said, “This morning there was a request from Ukraine, ‘We need money to buy body bags.’ That reminded me of the sacrifice that our brothers and sisters have to make.”

Iryna Yasinska Graves, Danylo’s mother, said a friend in Ukraine told her that her 6-year-old daughter in the first grade there was taught how to do heart massage, to help revive a classmate in case a bomb falls on her school.

“Yesterday I watched videos of a children’s hospital, a maternity hospital, bombed, and pregnant women being carried out in stretchers,” she said, describing the aftermath of a March 9 Russian bombing in besieged Mariupol. The next day, she saw TV footage of Ukrainian war victims being buried in mass graves.

“Given that it’s 2022, you have to sit there and ask yourself, ‘How can this happen?’” Yasinska Graves said. She asked, “How many times have world leaders said, ‘Never again?’” And she added, “ The ‘never again’ is happening right now in front of our eyes.”

Adrian Temnycky, a medical student from the State University of New York in Syracuse who has family members in Ukraine, said it “is stressful for all of us” to see the images of the war on the news. He noted that prayer “brings us closer together and fills us with hope and allows us to look forward to the future when things will be better.”

In addition to donating to charitable groups supporting Ukrainian relief, Temnycky recommended that people “just pray and know God will help us through this.”

Speaking a few minutes after his wife, Father Chornopyskyi said, “We really have a battle of evil against goodness, darkness against the light, hatred against love.”

The Ukrainian Catholic priest praised the people in his country who he said are willing to sacrifice their lives – “the most precious thing they have” – to defend freedom there.

“Let us be together in prayer… let us be united on the side of light, truth and love, with our Lord and each other,” he said.

Bohdan Andrey Hetmansky, who noted his father fought in a Ukrainian division during World War II, said, “Whatever happens over there, they can’t destroy our history, they can’t destroy our culture, and they can’t destroy us.”

At the prayer service, the people said a prayer for peace in Ukraine in English and Ukrainian, and ended the service singing a hymn for Ukraine and singing the Ukrainian national anthem, as they held their hands over their hearts.