The Ukrainian soldiers took their jackets off, squinting under the rising sun as the Reverend Taras Melnyk blessed them and their traditional Easter bread with holy water on Saturday.

For a brief moment, the dozens of soldiers under towering pines seemed to lose themselves in the prayers and blessings that come on the holiest day of the year for Orthodox Christians. Far from their families, unable to celebrate on Easter Sunday for military reasons, they were able to enjoy one tradition: paska, a sweet bread. They joked that Father Melnyk had brought with him the first taste of spring sunshine after more than two months of war.

“Easter shows people that life doesn’t end with death,” Father Melnyk said, holding a golden crucifix and wearing a white stole over military fatigues. Hours earlier, he had been in Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv, presiding over the funeral of an 18-year-old woman who had been killed by Russian forces.

Between mentions of the resurrection of Christ, Father Melnyk reminded the soldiers of their duty and drew a parallel to their struggle.

“We stand here and pray for Ukraine to also rise, and for this bloody war to end with victory,” Father Melnyk said. He was torn by the nature of the conflict, he said, because most of the Russian soldiers shared their faith.

“The most painful is that they are also Orthodox,” he said.

Father Melnyk did not end the prayers with the usual amen. “Glory to Ukraine,” he yelled. “Glory to the heroes,” the soldiers shouted back.

Zelensky vow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on Sunday in an Orthodox Easter message that no “wickedness” will destroy the country and prayed that God returns happiness to children and brings solace to grieving mothers.

In a video address from one of the country’s best-known landmarks, the 1,000-year-old Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Zelensky said Ukraine would overcome the darkness that Russia’s invasion had brought upon it.

“Today, we still believe in the new victory of Ukraine and we are all convinced that we will not be destroyed by any horde or wickedness,” said Zelensky.

New York Times News Service and Reuters