Teodozija Myroslava Mostepaniuk

Teodozija Myroslava Mostepaniuk is a sister of the Order of St. Basil the Great, Province of St. Michael the Archangel, Croatia. She completed a master's degree in Ukrainian and English language at Kyiv National University in Ukraine and a licentiate in theology at Catholic Faculty of Theology at Zagreb University in Croatia. After final vows in 2018, she worked in pastoral and educational ministry in Croatia, Bosnia and Ukraine. Currently, she is doing her postgraduate studies in church history at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

 

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Pope Francis greets Ukrainian refugees after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican March 8, 2023. (CNS/Vatican Media)

In spotlight of eternity, a Ukrainian tribute to Pope Francis after a complex 3 years

I'd received questions from my Ukrainian friends and relatives doubting the pope's stance toward their suffering. But on April 21, I read words of gratitude from many Ukrainians to Francis for his support and sympathy.

Emergency personnel treat a wounded resident of an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, that was heavily damaged in a Russian missile attack on Jan. 23.

War-weary Ukrainians fight to build lives amid death

After two years, Ukrainians' "race against death gets harder with each new day of war," writes Sr. Teodozija Myroslava Mostepaniuk. "And without continuous help, Ukrainians will not be able to outrun death." 

Sr. Teodozija Myroslava Mostepaniuk is pictured in a photo taken in May at Cheile Turzii ("The Keys of Turda") canyon in Romania. (Courtesy of the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great)

Romania teaches me that there are whole other worlds nearby

In May I had a wonderful opportunity to spend a month with the Basilian Sisters of the Province of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Romania — a blessing and an enrichment, culturally and spiritually.

Croatian youth pray for Ukraine, in Belisce, Croatia, Feb. 25, 2022. (Courtesy of the Sisters of the Order of St Basil the Great)

God, don't let us unlearn being human

While the war in Ukraine is still going on, it is important to stay alive, not to succumb to the temptation of an easy and false peace. To remain human, we need to be open to the pain of others and our own.

The Mother of God Oranta from the vault of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine (Wikimedia Commons/A-bg78)

A prayer for peace, hope and the miracle of being Ukrainian

I am based in Croatia now, but all my thoughts and prayers are focused on my native Ukraine, where my family lives, as well as a third of the sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great to which I belong.

A liturgy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, held outside in the village Tserkivna, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine, 1989 (Courtesy of Basilian Sisters' museum, Osijek, Croatia)

Basilian Sisters were evangelists for communist-era underground Ukrainian Church

In the 1980s, Basilian Sisters from Croatia made visits to Ukraine, establishing connections with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. While watched by KGB officers at every turn, the sisters brought God's blessing.