“What are you making a show out of this story?” wrote a viewer of the TBN UA channel in the comments after watching a video about the Gaidarzhy family. Before deciding to interview Serhiy Gaidarzhy, the creative team of the media project of the NGO “We Can!” really thought about whether it was appropriate to shoot a program about this tragic event. After all, the project “The Power of Prayer. War” is designed to tell about God’s supernatural intervention and His salvation in dangerous circumstances. These were stories of liberation from captivity, survival under occupation, and even protection from a direct missile hit. And here is the real tragedy: the death of his wife and son, only the husband and daughter remained alive. However, Serhiy Gaidarzhy’s words, spoken in the interview, are worth hearing by the whole country. Precisely because of what he went through. Therefore, the decision to go to Odessa and talk to the husband about life after loss was the right one.
The tragedy occurred on the night of March 2, 2024. The Gaidarzh family was sleeping peacefully at home when Russian drones attacked Odessa. Sergey’s wife Anna and their four-month-old son Timofey were killed in the nighttime Russian strike. The man remembers that painful day in every detail. But Sergey also carefully preserves the warm, happy moments of his life with Anna.
When the young people met, Serhiy felt that Anya was the person he wanted to spend his life with. The girl warned: “You need to talk to my father.” Anna’s father is a minister of the famous Peresyp Church in Odessa and told the guy practically one single phrase: “If you are sure of your decision, make an offer.” Serhiy was sure. Anya too. Their wedding is remembered as one of the most beautiful and romantic. Very soon the couple had a daughter. And during the second wave of the war in Ukraine, a son was born. “We dreamed that maybe we would have five children. God willing. Then Timokha, our second baby, appeared in our family, and he was already a child of the war. When an heir is born, it is somehow special. I remember when Timofey was born, and they gave him to me. “You know, there’s a room where fathers bring their baby and put it on your chest, body to body, so that it can warm up from the father’s warmth. And they gave it to me. He was born just a couple of minutes ago, still warm ,” Serhiy tenderly recalls his first meeting with his son.
Despite the war, regular alarms and shelling of Odessa, the Gaidarzh family tried to live and enjoy every day. And it seemed that it would always be like this. But one March night everything changed. “Everything happened very quickly. The alarm had just started, and the shaheed arrived. Somewhere between the 5th and 6th floors. Because of this, the entire entrance collapsed, ” Serhiy recalls, delving into difficult memories. “ I woke up from a strong explosion, grabbed my daughter, wrapped her in a blanket and ran to the exit. My wife and son were sleeping in another, corner room. I looked into the open door of our bedroom, and there was nothing there. Only the street was visible and that was all . ”
At that moment, Serhiy did not yet realize that Ani was gone. Among the general noise and din that arose after the explosion, he heard a woman’s hysterical screams. Serhiy thought it was his wife’s voice. “I started shouting loudly: ‘Darling, is that you?!'”. I really thought it was my wife. But then it turned out that it was a girl from the eighth floor. That day she lost her husband and three-year-old son, and she herself fell from the eighth floor and miraculously remained alive. Therefore, I hoped that maybe mine were still alive too. For more than 17 hours we were in such anticipation while rescue operations were underway… We were found in the basement. The last ones , – Serhiy makes an effort to hold back tears. – It was incredibly difficult to accept reality, because at a certain stage you are like in some kind of dream and do not understand what is happening. It seemed that you are about to wake up, and normal life will return. But that didn’t happen . “
At the scene of the tragedy at that moment, there were not only professional rescuers, but also ordinary Odessans who rushed to help clear the rubble. Among them were many Christians from the church that Serhiy and Anna attended. It was one of the brothers who signaled to the man that Anya and Timofey had finally been found. “A lot of people gathered around the disaster. Almost the entire church was there, ” says Serhiy. “ And not only our church. Many of our friends from different Odessa churches. And even people from other cities came. There were a lot of people, many Christians. For everyone present, it was a great testimony that the church is one both in times of joy and in times of trouble . ”
Serhiy lost his wife and son, but he did not lose faith in God. On the contrary, he claims that despite what happened, his relationship with God became closer: “There are people who are offended by God and because of this they turn away from Him. I did not have an offense against the Lord. Is God involved in sin? Is God to blame for this? I understood that it is man who does evil, man who commits sin. The Russian government, their leaders, Putin – they all do evil. And you cannot blame God for this. There is such a place in the Scripture: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” You should not take revenge, you should not take this anger upon yourself. Because because of this, a bitter root gets into the heart that can destroy us. But the Lord is not the culprit of evil. If a person loses faith in God in difficult moments of life, then did he have faith at all? This is a question to which everyone must find their own answer.”
The story of Serhiy Gaidarzhy’s family is just one of thousands of tragedies of Ukrainians in this war. However, it has a powerful meaning and lesson for many. We must learn to trust God not only in good times, but also in times of darkness and loss. War is a difficult path, and it can only be overcome by relying on the strong hand of God.