On Sunday, Ukrainian evangelicals in New York City gathered in their churches and wept, vented, and sang, feeling the threat to their loved ones and their homeland alongside people around the world.
As President Vladimir Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert, the Ukrainian Americans called their praise songs “weapons of war.” Outside the churches on a blue-skied morning, fellow New Yorkers continued protests against the Russian invasion, with some worshipers joining after their services.
New York City has the largest Ukrainian population in the US, a community of about 150,000, historically concentrated in the East Village of Manhattan and Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. Thousands had come to the US as religious refugees, most of them Baptist or Pentecostal, under a special asylum for those fleeing Soviet religious persecution.
Many have family in Ukraine and fear their fate as the war continues day by day.
Elder Peter Pristash, who lived much of his life in Ukraine and is now a US citizen, addressed his congregation on Sunday saying – “Our minds fail to understand: How is this possible in this day and age?” said Pristash before the congregation. “God allowed this to happen, and we do not know why. But we know God is sovereign, and he is on his throne. There are people who think if they kill someone it will accomplish a goal.”
He added – “What can we do but stay in prayer and cry to God?”