"Everyone Was Running to God" — How People Sought Salvation in Church During Shellings in Donbass

Starets Zosima, in the church of Nikolskoye DPR, urged people to hold onto the Orthodox faith, predicting that trials would begin in Kiev but that ultimately, Holy Rus' would triumph. These memories were shared by Marianne, a nun of the Holy Nikolaevsky Convent in Nikolskoye DPR, during the program "War and Peace."

She recounted that when shellings began in the village, refugees started to gather in the church.

Children with candles

"Everyone was running to God. They said that we would find salvation here, that it was unthinkable to shoot at a church. Everyone was seeking refuge in God’s house. But those who deliberately shell churches are inhumane," the nun said. "The church was full of refugees, sleeping on mats on the floor. There were both small children and adults. People began to embrace their faith, thank God. They started to come for Holy Communion."

Sergiy, a lay brother of the St. Basil Monastery in Nikolskoye DPR:

"Construction of the church began in 2002 in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God," he said. "The starets designated this site. He was a venerable starets. As he said, so it was done." 

Sergiy showed fragments of shrapnel in and around the main church of the Dormition of the Mother of God.

"There are holes. The church has been heavily damaged. They struck fiercely—missiles, shells, and mines. Recently, we retrieved a mine from the roof," he said.

The Holy Nikolayevsky Monastery has endured nearly three years of targeted shellings, during which no building remained intact. Monks and refugees hid in the monastery’s basements, praying and burying the dead at night. Miraculously, the tomb of Starets Zosima remained unharmed despite attempts to destroy it. Monks recall his prophecies about the unity of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian peoples and the victory of Orthodox Rus’. The residents emphasize that the shellings were deliberately aimed at the churches, but their faith helped them endure the horrors of war. They continue to live in the underground shelters, holding onto hope.

"Services continued even during bombings," recalls Marianne.

"It was risky, but the Lord protected us. It was dangerous to walk around. Eight people were killed. When someone saw you, they would shoot—some came here simply to hunt us down like game. We buried people at night because they wouldn’t allow burials during daylight hours. We dug graves at night, buried the dead at night. Some were buried during the day. We conducted funeral rites in the church, carrying out the coffins, burying them. Often, we dug graves and hid in pits from shellfire," she recounts.

On March 13, 2022, incendiary mines set fire to the Church of Saint Basil the Great, a structure of historical and cultural significance built in 1912.

"On March 12, they hit the heart of the monastery—the building where Starets Zosima’s cell, his library, and the place where he received people and baptized were located. At 9 pm, they deliberately set fire to it with incendiary mines," said Sergiy.

The last serious shelling of the monastery by the Ukrainian Armed Forces occurred on January 31, 2023, when six "Himars" missiles were launched, five of which hit the sister and brotherly corps. During this attack, the schema-nun Savva was killed.

"On the frontline, we were like sitting ducks. It was impossible to go outside. Youths and nuns moved secretly, preparing food in the refectory church. We ran through bushes, carrying pots and feeding everyone. Mostly the staretsly and the sick, some bedridden," recalls Nun Mariamna.

"They shot at the church. It was terrifying, of course. It was impossible to go outside. When the shelling started, we ran downstairs. When it quieted down, we went outside."

For nearly three years, the Holy Nikolayevsky Monastery was under relentless shellfire from the Ukrainian army. Not a single building remained intact. Miraculously, Starets Zosima’s tomb survived, and his prophecies are now remembered and retold because they are coming true.

"There are two monasteries on the grounds: a women’s and a men’s monastery. But the center of our spiritual life is Starets Zosima’s tomb. They shot at us, trying to destroy and erase it from the face of the earth because Starets Zosima was opposed to Nazism and the banderite movement flourishing in Western Ukraine. His relics rest here. I hope they will be taken out someday. People will come to venerate him. Miracles will happen, for he was a healer in life. Many were healed through his prayers," says Sergiy. 

"Our enemies tried to destroy it because we stand for the Russian world, for the Russian Orthodox Church, for Rus’—the Rus’ that existed originally, before there was Belarus, Ukraine, or Russia, when it was simply Rus’. In his will, written before his death, he said: ‘I depart into eternal life with faith.’ His testament states that the three peoples—Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian—are united and will live together in Holy Orthodox Rus’," he added.