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Mostly Cloudy Ukrainians gather to pray for peace at local vigil
They gathered, prayed, sang and wept. Over 150 people, many of them Ukrainian, some unable to speak English, attended a peace vigil on Tuesday hosted by the Town of Oyster Bay at St. Josaphat’s Monastery in Lattingtown, home to priests and brothers of the Basilian Order of St. Josaphat.
Ukrainian Andrii Neborak has been staying at St. Josaphat’s, unable to return home to his family. “I left Ukraine two days before [the invasion] started, and my family is still there,” he said, a Ukrainian flag draped around his shoulders. “I talk to them every day, and they are safe, but how very stressful this is not only because of my family, but everyone in Ukraine.”
His family lives in Ivano-Frankivsk, a small city roughly 620 miles from the Russian border. “Many Ukrainians have been killed,” Neborak said. “Russians have invaded residential houses, killing families with guns.”
Before the vigil began, Anna Czerwonka and her daughter, Emily, pinned yellow and blue ribbons — the colors of the Ukrainian flag — onto people’s coats. Czerwonka, who lives in Lattingtown, came to the United States from Poland 31 years ago. She came to the vigil, she said, to support Ukraine. Her family remains in Poland, an hour and a half from the Ukrainian border.
“The people I speak to, my relatives and friends are hosting Ukrainian families and housing them,” she said. “The journey to the border for the women and children is tiring, so they need to stop once they get to Poland for a night or two to rest.”
And the harm being done to the Ukrainian people is not only physical, Czerwonka said. “The children are going through emotional stress,” she said. “A closing door sounds like gunfire to them.”
Her mother, she said, continues to worry that Russian President Vladimir Putin will invade Poland next. Czerwonka said she supports the sanctions the U.S. has imposed against Russia. “But at the same time, I feel sorry for the people living in Russia,” she said. “Their country will be a mess. What is shocking to me is the propaganda they are living with.”
Volodymyr Tsyalkovsky, a Ukrainian-American, said that a 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew is strictly enforced in his home country. Although his family members, who live in Lviv, tell him there haven’t been any direct threats from Russia, they go to a bomb shelter every day to practice what to do if they come under attack.
Tsyalkovsky said that refugees travel through Lviv to get to Poland, and that, according to NATO, 60 people per minute cross the Ukraine border.
“The Russians might decide to bomb Lviv for revenge,” he said. “If they close off Lviv, the refugees will be trapped.” Poland has been sending supplies to Lviv, he added, which are vital for the refugees.
“Each family has one suitcase and one bag, and it’s all women and children, because the men have to stay to fight,” said Jolanta Zamecka, of Oyster Bay, the vice chair of Glen Cove’s Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center. “The volunteers come from other countries, and there is a small window of opportunity that the supplies will get to Ukraine.”
The Rev. Walter Rybicky, of the Order of St. Basil the Great, said he was proud of the Ukrainians’ determination. “We pray in our liturgy to make those who are evil good,” he said. “The soldiers don’t fight out of hatred. They fight for love of their country, and Ukrainians for their homeland. But the average Russian doesn’t want war.”
Oyster Bay AMVETS Vice Commander Bob Selby said that he, too, came to the vigil to honor the Ukrainians. “No one should be suffering the way they are,” he said. “This is shades of the old Nazi regime, to just roll over a country.”
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino told the crowd that the purpose of the vigil was to spread peace and hope. “We stand united at home and throughout America,” he said. “The people of Ukraine have shown strength and resilience that is awe-inspiring.”
Olja, a Ukrainian-American, who declined to give her last name due to fear of Russian retaliation, said her immediate family remains in Ukraine. Fighting tears, she said that her heart aches for the peaceful country she came from.
“The UN has reported 406 people were killed, including children, and 801 have been injured,” she said. “Families sleep in their clothes, ready to leave.”
