UKRAINE: FOUR CHURCHES IN AREAS NOW UNDER RUSSIAN CONTROL HARASSED BY OFFICIALS

Posted on June 21, 2022 by Pastor Foley

Four Protestant churches are currently experiencing harassment by officials in areas now under Russian control, Voice of the Martyrs Korea has confirmed. The organization is also investigating reports of two pastors from the region currently being held without charge in unknown locations.

“Three churches in the Donetsk Region–Central Baptist Church and the Church of Christ the Saviour in Mariupol, and a church in Manhush—as well as a church in Vasilievka in the Zaporozhye region have recently been visited by officials or soldiers who conducted searches, confiscated equipment, demanded documents, and in one case even forcibly evacuated church members from their building,” says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr Hyun Sook Foley.

Voice of the Martyrs Korea operates “Голос Мучеников – Корея”, a Russian language edition of its popular Facebook page on Christian persecution. Representative Foley says the organization also maintains private channels of communication with Christians and churches who are currently in areas of armed conflict, including those in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions.

Representative Foley says that church leaders in the region are asking for prayer.

“Back in March, Central Baptist Church in Mariupol buried two martyred church members who were part of a group of five whose van was hit by a grenade as they were doing deliveries and caring for 200 people living in the church basement as the city came under attack,” said Representative Foley. “Now the city is under Russian control. The church building itself was destroyed. Only the basement remains. On Sunday June 12, the remaining church members, less than a hundred, were gathered together for worship. Armed men came with threats and demanded the church’s registration documents. Unfortunately, the armed men were given the original documents, which they took with them.”

Representative Foley says Voice of the Martyrs Korea also received a report that on June 15 or 16, officials came to a minister of the Church of Christ the Saviour in Mariupol and asked to see the church’s registration. “The minister told the officials that the leader of the church had the documentation but was not presently in the city,” says Representative Foley. “The officials then directed him to visit their office regarding the church registration. He visited, and fortunately at this point the officials have told him they have no further questions.”

Christ the Saviour Church in Mariupol, one of four churches in regions newly under Russian control which have recently been experiencing harassment from authorities.

Representative Foley says the outcome was more severe in the village of Manhush, 30 km away from Mariupol. “Voice of the Martyrs Korea received reports that on June 15 or 16, the Russian military drove the believers out of their prayer house and rehabilitation center building,” Representative Foley says.

A minister from the church in Vasilievka similarly reported a visit from authorities on June 15-16, according to Voice of the Martyrs Korea. Representative Foley shared the minister’s report: “A few FSB officers came to the prayer house, registered everyone, said that they were closing the church and there would be no further meetings. Then officers went to the presbyter’s house, carried out a search, took away laptops and phones for checking. The official said that this was not all. We need God’s support and protection of our family members and the church.”

Representative Foley says that Voice of the Martyrs Korea is also investigating reports of two church leaders from the region who have been arrested and are currently being held without charge in secret locations by authorities. “The Defense Headquarters of the Zaporizhia Territory is reporting that Nikolai Zholovan, a Baptist pastor in Vasilyevka, was abducted by authorities on June 18. Also on June 18, Valentin Zhuravlev, pastor of the Melitopol Source of Life Church who is also a local veterinarian, was reportedly taken away by armed Russian soldiers while he was participating in a non-political interfaith prayer event in the city square, according to eyewitnesses,” says Representative Foley.

Representative Foley says that churches in these regions continue to operate despite the difficult conditions. “Believers have told us that they are trying to restore their church buildings to usable condition, but it is difficult due to the lack of building materials, electricity, and outside communication,” says Representative Foley. “One church leader told us that the occupying authorities don’t permit humanitarian aid from Ukraine, America, or Europe to enter into Mariupol. But he said that Russian Evangelical Christians are now helping their fellow believers in the city.”

According to Representative Foley, not all churches in the region are being harassed. “One church leader told us that nobody is bothering them at all. They are able to do their worship services freely and are working to help restore the damaged buildings of other churches.”

Representative Foley says, “A church leader speculated to us that the occupation authorities may be focusing on churches that have Ukrainian registration. They may be leaving alone the churches that typically don’t register with governments, like unregistered Baptist churches. Leaders tell us that Ukrainian church registration is simply treated as illegitimate.”

Representative Foley says that one regional church overseer told Voice of the Martyrs Korea that he has advised ministers in the region not to provide the original copies of registration documents if they are demanded by authorities. “Instead, he says churches should make copies of the registration that are certified with the church seal and signed by the minister, and to provide these to authorities upon request. Otherwise, authorities could simply keep the original documents and claim the church is not properly registered,” says Representative Foley.

Representative Foley says that dealing with issues of registration is nothing new for churches in the region. “Since 2014, when so-called People’s Republics were declared in Donetsk and Luhansk, Protestant churches have been required to register with authorities, and to produce copies of their registration upon request,” says Representative Foley. “One church leader told us that worship services are held only where and when officials tolerate them. The leader told us, ‘[Officials] present everything Protestant as American-planted, and only the ROC MP [Russian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate] has the right to operate’.”

Representative Foley says that Voice of the Martyrs Korea is providing emergency assistance to local church congregations and individual Christians who are continuing to engage in faithful witness during the present Russia/Ukraine conflict. “Every time the front line of the war moves, we Christians should pray for the churches and individual Christians that are now behind the line,” says Representative Foley. “Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s calling is to help support the tiny churches and Christians that are faithfully witnessing to the priority of the kingdom of God above all earthly kingdoms, despite the likelihood that it may cost them their lives.”

Donations can be made to the Ukraine Emergency Fund at www.vomkorea.com/en/donation or via electronic transfer to:

국민은행 (KB Bank) 463501-01-243303

예금주 (Account Holder): (사)순교자의소리

Please include the phrase “Ukraine” with the donation.

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Ukraine: Christians in Mariupol and Donetsk region risk their safety to reconnect during war

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Pastor Foley

Khartsyzsk, a city in the Donetsk region, is only 130 kilometers from Mariupol. But for the past eight years, with the areas under separate control and travel between them tightly regulated, Christians in the two cities may as well have lived on opposite sides of the world. Now, as the battle lines and the control of the surrounding territories continue to shift around them, Christians from Mariupol and the Donetsk region are making the most of the present opportunity to comfort, encourage, and support each other through face-to-face visits, despite the danger. 

Christians who used to live in Mariupol and Christians from Donetsk region join together for mutual aid and encouragement. (Photo used with permission of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists, AUC ECB.)

“Control of Mariupol has shifted, and control over the Donetsk region remains divided, but the churches in those regions remain part of the one body of Christ,” says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley. “Many of the Christians in Mariupol were displaced by the fighting, fleeing to other areas still under Ukrainian control. Even though they are displaced, they are using the opportunity to visit and bring aid and encouragement to Christians in the parts of Donetsk region under Ukrainian control.” 

At the same time, says Representative Foley, travel between Mariupol and Khartsyzsk, a city in the Donetsk region under DPR control, is now possible for the first time in eight years. “So small groups of Christians who remained in Mariupol have recently been traveling to Khartsyzsk to reconnect with their brothers and sisters after the long separation,” says Representative Foley. 

Voice of the Martyrs Korea operates “Голос Мучеников – Корея”, a Russian language edition of its popular Facebook page on Christian persecution. Representative Foley says the organization also maintains private channels of communication with Christians and churches who are currently in areas of armed conflict, including those in Mariupol and Donetsk.  

According to Representative Foley, Christians in the areas of heavy fighting are seeking more than food, shelter, and safety. “They are seeking what the true church has always sought since Acts chapter 2,” she says. “They want to join together in one another’s homes to break bread, share fellowship, pray, and devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching.”  

Representative Foley says that believers who live in places of armed conflict need more than humanitarian aid. “They need real face-to-face contact with other believers,” says Representative Foley. “Reports from Christians in the Donetsk region say that it is hard to know what is the greater help—receiving the humanitarian aid or being able to see these brothers and sisters in Christ face-to-face.”  

Representative Foley says that the motivation for these visits goes much deeper than simply delivering aid. “Romans 13:7 says Christians are to render honor to whom honor is due. Mariupol Christians have told us that they are undertaking these trips in order to show honor to Christians in the Donetsk Region.”  

Mariupol believers receive prayer from Evgeniy Pushkov, a Christian music minister and church
leader who has served in choral ministry for 42 years, including 11 spent in prison and exile for his faith under the Soviet Union. (Photo used with permission of the International Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists, IUC ECB.)

Representative Foley says that Voice of the Martyrs Korea learned of a visit by Mariupol Christians to Khartsyzsk to see Evgeniy Pushkov, a Christian music minister and church leader who has served in choral ministry in the Donetsk region for 42 years, including 11 spent in prison and exile for his faith under the Soviet Union. “We asked the Mariupol Christians why they went to visit Mr. Pushkov, and they answered simply, ‘Because it is Mr. Pushkov. He is a very famous preacher to Christians in the region who worked very hard in the fields of the evangelism for four decades.’” 

Evgeniy Pushkov recites a Christian poem to the Mariupol Christians who visited his home.

Representative Foley says she believes trips like this bring honor not only to Christian leaders but also to God. “When Christians risk everything not just to deliver aid but to be together for the purpose of worship, fellowship, and mutual edification, we can see how precious the body of Christ really is. For Christians, life is about more than physical needs. Mr. Pushkov recited some of his Christian poetry for the visitors. For Christians, words of life are an essential form of medicine.”  

Representative Foley says that the Mariupol believers have responded to the destruction of their city as a call to mission. “Many Mariupol Christians have themselves been displaced from their homes, and more than 10,000 deaths are still expected by the end of the year in that city of 170,000. But in the midst of their difficulties the Mariupol believers have set out on missions to aid and encourage whichever other believers they are able to reach.” says Representative Foley.  

According to Representative Foley, Christians in the rest of the world should learn from these Mariupol believers. 

Displaced Christians from Mariupol deliver food aid to Christians in the Donetsk region
(Photo used with the permission of the AUC ECB.)

“Church attendance in many countries is still down following the COVID pandemic,” says Representative Foley. “We need to re-learn what a precious privilege it is to be able to gather face-to-face. Believers in Mariupol and Donetsk are placing the unity and fellowship of the body of Christ above everything else, even above their own personal safety.”  

Representative Foley says that Voice of the Martyrs Korea is providing emergency assistance to local church congregations and individual Christians who are continuing to engage in faithful witness during the present Russia/Ukraine conflict. “Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s calling is to help support the tiny churches and Christians that are faithfully witnessing to the priority of the kingdom of God above all earthly kingdoms, despite the likelihood that it may cost them their lives,” she says. 

Donations can be made to the Ukraine Emergency Fund at www.vomkorea.com/en/donation or via electronic transfer to:

국민은행 (KB Bank) 463501-01-243303

예금주 (Account Holder): (사)순교자의소리

Please include the phrase “Ukraine” with the donation.

Displaced Christians from Mariupol join Christians in the Donetsk region for worship services. (Photo used with permission of the AUC ECB).
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Mariupol: Churches “cut off from the outside world, but not cut off from God”

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Pastor Foley

Images of death and destruction continue to pour out of Mariupol, where the city council announced that they are bracing for the death by year’s end of 10,000 of the city’s remaining 170,000 residents, due to disease and unsafe living conditions.

Yet today other images are also emerging from that besieged city: photos and video from Voice of the Martyrs Korea show small groups of believers continuing to meet for worship, partake of the Lord’s Supper, bury their dead, and carry out the work of the church.

The Lord’s Supper served in the Gonda Street Baptist church in Mariupol church on May 1 (used with permission by the International Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists).

“It is wrong to think of churches as the first to evacuate and the last to return in the event of wars and natural disasters,” says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Foley Dr Hyun Sook Foley. “Typically, Christians are the ones who stay. First and foremost, they worship God from those places of devastation. Then they serve their neighbors there, through intercessory prayer and by sharing whatever they have, even at the cost of their lives.”

Voice of the Martyrs Korea operates “Голос Мучеников – Корея”, a Russian language edition of its popular Facebook page on Christian persecution. The page has 12,000 followers from across the Russian-speaking world. The majority, approximately 7,000, live in Ukraine and interact with the ministry and with each other through the site. Representative Foley says the organization also maintains private channels of communication with Christians and churches in all parts of Ukraine, including Mariupol.

Representative Foley says that when Mariupol Christians write, it is not primarily to ask for help. “They clearly have almost nothing, but mainly they just want to praise God for his faithfulness to them and let their Christian brothers and sisters in the ‘outside world’ know that they are still ‘at their post’ serving God,” says Representative Foley. “Media reports keep emphasizing only that the people in Mariupol are ‘cut off’ from the outside world. And that is true. But Christians in Mariupol also want people to know that even though they are ‘cut off’ from the world, they are not cut off from God, and that God is faithfully caring for them.”

Representative Foley says that truth was powerfully illustrated by photos sent by an unregistered Baptist church partaking of the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday in May and then distributing food to congregation members after the service. “The report from the ‘house of prayer’ on Gonda Street in Mariupol also said that ‘visitors from the world’—meaning, non-Christians—had attended worship on Easter, and that several people had turned to the Lord through prayers of repentance.”

Members of the Baptist church on Gonda Street in Mariupol in a recent photo (used with permission by the International Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists).

Representative Foley says that the Gonda Street congregation has not been spared from the suffering happening around them in the city. “The church’s deacon, Vladimir Redkokashin, died as a result of his faithful witness,” says Representative Foley. “Church members tell us that when the armed conflict began, many people left the area, and Deacon Vladimir was the one minister in the church who remained. The members say he set up a basement not only for them but also for the neighbors, and that he accepted everyone who came, treating them with care and love.”

Church members told Voice of the Martyrs Korea that they last saw Redkokashin alive on March 19. Representative Foley shared their report: “We brought people to [the Gonda Street Church], and after that we were planning to evacuate them from the city. He prayed on the road, blessed the way.  In the evening he went to visit his own family.  When he was closing the garage, a shell flew not far away and wounded him in the stomach.  He spent the night at home, and the next day he was taken to the hospital.  According to the testimony of the medical staff, he prayed all the time.  On the operating table, after praying, he passed away.”

Representative Foley says church members told Voice of the Martyrs Korea that it took authorities a month to retrieve his body and bring it to the morgue. “Church members buried the deacon on April 26,” says Representative Foley. “Photos from the funeral show a plain wooden casket and a simple cross and handwritten name placard marking his grave. But the photos also show the congregation faithfully gathered together to worship God at the funeral. They wrote us, ‘Thanks be to God for the fact that we have such faithful servants who, not only in word but also in deed, are a light and an example both for us believers and for those non- Chrisians around us.’ They did not ask for anything other than prayers for the deacon’s adult sons, Sergei and Maxim, who are not yet believers.”

Members of the Gonda Street Baptist church in Mariupol gather to bury their deacon, Vladimir Redkokashin, on April 26 (used with permission by the International Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists).

Representative Foley says it is wrong to think of Christians in Mariupol primarily as people in need of help. “Their situation from a human standpoint is dire, but in other ways they have more than we do,” says Representative Foley. “One report we received from Mariupol noted simply that a church distributed much-needed food, and that the church members were deeply grateful. Another report from the church in Myrnyi block talked about how the church had three repentances that Sunday. Another report included photos of the church’s blown-up building in Livoberezhnyi District, but the report was an expression of thankfulness for all those who have been praying for the church. Another report included a video of a female congregation member offering beautiful special music at a worship service in which their small church sanctuary was completely full. Gratitude, repentance, praise, thanksgiving, faithful attendance at worship despite extreme difficulties—these are offerings that please the Lord more than money.”

One of three repentances at the Baptist Church in Mirniy block in Mariupol at a worship service in May (used with permission by the International Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists).

Representative Foley says that Voice of the Martyrs Korea is providing emergency assistance to local Ukrainian church congregations and individual Christians who are continuing to engage in faithful witness during the present Russia/Ukraine conflict. “Other Christian groups and churches around the world are sending truckloads of bread and medicine and funding evacuations and refugee housing of Ukrainian Christians, and that is certainly needed,” says Representative Foley. “But Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s calling is to help support the tiny Ukrainian churches that are just trying to faithfully be the church day-to-day where they are, despite the likelihood that it may cost them their lives.”

Representative Foley says it is a kind of aid that is not able to be mass-delivered on a truck or airplane. “Each day we are in contact with local Ukrainian churches and Christians. There are certainly financial needs, but sometimes what is needed is just talking or texting or praying with them, or listening to their stories. Sometimes they want us to provide them with resources on persecution and martyrdom. They are hungry to understand their experience biblically and in the light of Christian history. More than anything, Ukrainian Christians want their brothers and sisters around the world to know that God is remaining faithful to Ukrainian Christians, and Ukrainian Christians are remaining faithful to God.”  

A member of the Baptist church in Mirniy (district in Mariupol) sings a beautiful song of repentance at a worship service (used with permission by the International Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists).

Donations can be made to the Ukraine Emergency Fund at www.vomkorea.com/en/donation or via electronic transfer to:

국민은행 (KB Bank) 463501-01-243303

예금주 (Account Holder): (사)순교자의소리

Please include the phrase “Ukraine” with the donation.

The building of the Baptist church in Livoberezhnyi District in Mariupol that was recently destroyed (used with permission by the International Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists).
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