Bishop Mykola Bychok in Zaporizhzhia: “You are not alone; the whole world is with you”
On June 15, All Saints’ Sunday, Bishop Mykola Bychok, Eparch of Melbourne, who is currently in Ukraine, led the Divine Liturgy at the parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Zaporizhzhia.
Bishop Mykola expressed his gratitude to the parishioners, clergy, and Bishop Maksym Ryabukha, Exarch of Donetsk, for his visit to Australia “as a witness of fortitude, truth, and goodness, whose voice resounded throughout Australia.”
“I want to assure you that we are with you—Australia, New Zealand, Oceania. At every Divine Liturgy, we pray for you, for Ukraine. We pray not only for an end to the war but for a just peace, when the enemy occupier will truly be condemned, and we, as victims of aggression, will be vindicated in the eyes of the whole world. You are not alone; the whole world is with you. You are witnesses of indomitability, goodness, and truth,” assured Bishop Mykola in his prayer, noting that Australians are helping and supporting Ukrainians.
Then Fr. Roman Vovk, treasurer of the Donetsk Exarchate and parish priest of the parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help; Vitaliia Vovk, director of the Don Bosco Catholic School; and Daria Ishkova, deputy director, gave Bishop Mykola a tour of the school construction site and told him that in six months, they had almost completely built the first three-story building with a shelter and were already doing interior work.
Bishop Mykola also visited the “Safe Space” shelter, where first-graders from the Don Bosco Catholic School studied during the 2024/2025 school year. There is a dance hall on the first floor of the “Safe Space.”
