” God forbid I pretend everything is fine and stay abroad when I could have defended my homeland.”
The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine found Volodymyr Symanyshyn in Poland, where he could have remained until now. But the guy decided to return home in order to defend the country from the enemy. Almost immediately, Volodymyr found himself on one of the most difficult front lines near Seversko-Donetsk. “Then there were heavy battles there, shells fell right next to us, five or ten meters away, and you don’t understand whether you will even get out of there ,” Volodymyr recalls his time in the war. “ In principle, injuries and death in war are, unfortunately, inseparable things, and my fate may be the same as that of others . ”
During his year of service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the young man received a serious injury that led to the amputation of both arms. “My comrades put tourniquets on me, I blacked out and woke up in the Dnipro in intensive care, then I was able to look at my arms and saw that one was definitely missing, and what was wrong with the other was unclear ,” Volodymyr recalls. He received a contusion of the eye, shrapnel wounds to his face and limbs, could not breathe on his own and could hardly see anything. Despite his serious condition, pain and amputation, the young man felt a strange sense of joy. “I guess I didn’t fully realize how difficult it would be for me, but the joy of being still alive, of being able to move, still prevailed ,” says Volodymyr. “ The realization of what I had lost came later, when I faced certain challenges . ”
But the real shock for Vladimir was the betrayal of his beloved. “I had a girlfriend at the time, I was in love with her, and the fact that I didn’t receive support from her was a strong blow ,” Vladimir admits. “ I openly made my claims to God. Why is that? I expressed all the difficult moments for me to perceive to God in prayer. It was a test of my faith. This very situation was to either confirm what I believe in or refute it . ”
But despite the loss of his beloved and both hands, Volodymyr found a meaning to live on. It was his personal faith and desire to be useful that helped the guy return to life. “I asked myself: what can you do now, how can you further realize yourself? I constantly asked myself these questions and realized that I can walk. It’s a plus that I won’t sit in one place, I can move, move around, do something,” says Volodymyr. He learned to use a mobile phone using his feet or nose, took up sports, learned to run, keeping his balance despite the lack of hands. Later, he mastered typing on a computer and using everyday objects with stumps.
“ Even before I had prosthetics, I realized that there are things that are available to me. I can read, write, look for some useful information, help my military unit by working with documents ,” says Volodymyr and adds: “ Our faith, I am convinced, is revealed precisely in difficult situations, when it seems that human strength would never be objectively enough. It is impossible to do without God here. The same goes for our country. Yes, we are exhausted, some morally, some physically and psychologically. The military, I don’t know how they endure it all. But look at that giant on the map that is fighting against us, that wants to destroy us. And for a country like ours to survive, without God here, it is a miracle. And we can see God’s miracles every day. The question is whether we are looking for them . ”
Even before prosthetics, the guy got into an art therapy workshop, where he tried to draw for the first time in his life. “It was a discovery for me ,” Volodymyr recalls his first steps in drawing. “ The master class for the military was conducted by an artist from Ternopil. He simply showed how to make strokes, how to mix paint, something elementary, how children are taught. There I actually got acquainted with drawing. At first I was skeptical, and then I saw the first result when my mother took photos of my paintings .” Art therapy grew into a real passion for drawing, and as a result, Volodymyr already has several exhibitions of his own paintings. He actively performs in schools in front of children, where he tells his story and inspires them to believe in the best despite difficulties.
A special decision for Volodymyr was to enter the seminary. The boy had a desire to obtain a theological education even before the war. While in peaceful Poland, and later in Ukraine at the front, Volodymyr constantly felt a call in his heart to a deeper knowledge of God and the study of His Word. So now he is studying at the Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy. “I don’t see myself as a confessional priest serving in a parish ,” Volodymyr shares his plans, “ but I am considering such an option as chaplaincy. I would like to show people by my example that, no matter how complicated and incomprehensible life may seem, it is still worth living . ”
Volodymyr Simanyshyn is sure that it was the traumatic experience that made his faith stronger, and with God he will be able to accomplish everything he set out to do: “If you think logically, then I should probably do the exact opposite and not follow God, but leave Him. Considering everything that happened to me, I should not even acknowledge that He exists. And everyone has that right, but what next? If I give up, stop getting treatment, fighting, getting prosthetics, drawing, what is the result of this? If it does not benefit either me or others, it is a meaningless life. I would not wish this on anyone: to live life without understanding what you live for. You need to try to comprehend the purpose of these trials. And this, perhaps, is my personal secret, that I try to find meaning in things that bring benefit and goodness . ”
“The Power of Prayer. War” is an original program of the TBN UA channel, which is a media project of the NGO “We Can!”. Its goal is to convey the truth about the war unleashed by the Russians against Ukraine, as well as to record testimonies of God’s glory and the power of prayer, which can change lives.