Where Was God in Bucha?

By Fr. George Kovalenko, Archpriest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, reprinted with permission from his initiative “God Against War”.

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With the images that come to us from Bucha, the people closest to me ask themselves the question: where was God? Why didn’t he stop that? How could he allow it? It is very difficult to answer this question, because words are not enough. Today, a friend, a priest, told me: “Right now, it is better to be silent.” At this time, it is better to empathize, to stand with these people. At this point, it is better to cry with them and ask the same questions. Because these are the questions that David asked himself. When you open the Psalter today, you hear the same cry, the same pain, the same question. When you open the Book of Job, you see the same thing, you see the same theme, and it speaks to us today. But the fact that I refer to the texts does not lessen this pain.

And so, I won’t try so much to answer the questions, and that cry, and that pain, and the crying of our women, but I’ll try to figure out for myself, which God I believe in. Who is this God? Why is it all happening like this now? Paradoxically, it is in the confession of my own faith that I find an answer.

I believe in a God, who has become a man like the others. They also wanted to kill him when he was still a newborn. Together with his family, he became a refugee. Moreover, when He fled with his family, in the place from which he left, many infants were killed, because it was He who was wanted to be killed. Then Christ came to men, preaching to them, calling them to live according to the law of God and teaching them how to do so. But what did these people do, what did this chosen people of God do? They betrayed Him, imprisoned, bound, tortured and finally nailed Him to the cross, after which He died. I believe in a God who died on the cross. And it is a reality. It is the same reality as the deaths in Bucha, Mariupol and other cities. Because God died there. God died in Bucha and Mariupol, as then, on a cross. Because then, God became man, then the humanity of God, became the Church. I believe that now God is these men representing his Body, who believe in Him, who do no harm, who suffer, who are killed. He went through it all himself and He feels that pain now. Likewise, his mother was a refugee, rescuing her child. Then She saw how her Son was crucified, how He died on the cross, how He was taken down from the cross. Consequently, the Mother of God understands these mothers whose grief is now inconsolable better than I do.

But why doesn’t God stop all this? Precisely because it is the same God who created man free to choose between good and evil. It is God who has given man this possibility. It is not an architect who has created a machine in which everything is a cog. It’s not some kind of mechanism that controls everything, that knows everything, that has calculated everything from beginning to end and that knows in advance what is going to happen. I believe that we choose what will happen. God knows a multitude of possible options, but it is we who make a choice. And in accordance with this choice, the good continues to fight and overcome the evil. Because God is life. And life, no matter what, goes on. Because it is love. And it is this love that wins. God help our defenders, because Bucha, Irpen, Gostomel, Chernigov, Konotop are now released. And we perceive this, on the one hand, as a miracle, and on the other hand, we understand that behind this miracle are the efforts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, our defenders, our guardian angels. God is with them and for them now. For they protect good from evil, life from death.

I believe that these cities will be resurrected, that the memory of these people who have now gone to God, who not only died but were also called to the resurrection, will live on. I also believe in the resurrection of Christ. God is not only dead, but he also conquered death. He rose from the dead. And that means life wins, love wins. We will live, do good, rebuild with our own hands, with God’s help, all that has been destroyed. Because what is happening is a divine-human process. God and humanity cooperate, collaborate in creation, filling the world with life and love. And the evil resists that, trying to destroy, to exterminate, to kill, but the good will win, for sure.

Today I read a message from my friend, in which she writes that there is no God. And in a way, I’m willing to agree with her. Because this feeling of abandonment by God is natural. It is also described in the Holy Scriptures. When we read the book of Job, that is what it is all about.

When we read the Psalms, we see that this is what David cries out, turning to God with claims. He calls for the destruction of the enemies who attack him from all sides. He cries out for protection and does not understand why he is abandoned, why there is no God, why He does nothing. Moreover, Christ himself on the cross, in the last moments of his life, addresses God the Father with the words: “God, why have you forsaken me?” Even God experienced this abandonment of God.

And so it’s a natural reaction of our people to ask these questions, to make such harsh statements. And it is not the words that will convince us, but the fact that we continue to live, to love each other, to support each other and to pray for each other. And we believe in a God who is among us, who is in us, who is with us, who is the God of love, who is the God of sacrifice.

Our God is with us. He is with us, even when it seems to us that he has left us.