Another church to be built

The history of the village of Bozhkivske in the Poltava region dates back to 1928, when the Bolsheviks began building a prison here in an open field. And its first inhabitants were those Poltava peasants who resisted forced collectivisation and refused to join collective farms. Now it is the Bozhkivska Correctional Colony No. 16. In the 60s of the last century, two more correctional institutions appeared nearby. Currently, these are the Naderzhynshchynska Women's Correctional Colony No. 65 and the Kryukivska Correctional Colony-Settlement No. 29.
“Imagine,” says Mykola Isayev, head of the Department of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences in the Poltava Region, “how many hundreds of thousands of convicts have served their sentences here over 80 years and how much negativity has accumulated in this relatively small territory.”
A village has grown up next to the correctional institutions, where mainly the families of their staff live: the adult population alone is about two thousand. When necessary, people have to travel all the way to Poltava, 24 kilometres away, to go to church.
Thus, Serhiy Dovzhenko, head of the Kryukivska Penal Colony No. 29, had the idea of building a church in the village to satisfy not only the religious needs of the convicts, but also those of the residents of the village and several surrounding villages. Especially since a dilapidated building of the former packing workshop of the VK-16 has been looming opposite the institution's checkpoint for about 20 years.
Recently, Archbishop of Poltava and Myrhorod of the UOC, Philip, consecrated the site of the future church, an oak cross, and held a prayer service.
“How good it is,” he said, “that the time has finally come when we are not destroying churches, but building and restoring them. I hope that soon there will be a place in Bozhkivske where one can receive God's blessing and open one's heart to God...”
With the Vladyka's last words, the cold and gusty wind with snow quieted for a moment, and the sun peered through on the gloomy sky for a few minutes.
“A good sign,” murmured the local residents who were present at the ceremony. They are also looking forward to the opening of the church. “It won't be necessary to go to church in Poltava for religious holidays; we will be able to baptise a child on the spot, have a wedding ceremony, and commemorate the dead,” rejoice pensioner Hanna Levandovska and production training master of the Naderzhynshchynska Training Centre No. 65 Maria Fedorovych.
Archbishop Philip's answer to the question of whether he felt embarrassed that a former warehouse was being converted into a church was interesting. “Not at all,” he remarked. “A place is consecrated by the prayer of the believers: whether it is a forest, a cave (the first Christians in the Roman Empire prayed in the caves where they buried the dead), or a former workshop.”
Inspecting the premises of the future church, Archbishop Philip, like a professional builder, inquired about how the church would be heated, what the windows and dome would look like, where the choir loft would be, and whether he could count on housing for the rector; he advised on where it would be better to build the bell tower.
The head of the Kryukivska Penal Colony No. 29, Serhiy Dovzhenko, did not name a completion date for the construction, as he has to rely only on sponsorship donations and the help of the convicts. Actually, churches in correctional institutions are built everywhere by the method of public construction. There is an idea for the church to resemble the famous Church of the Intercession on the Nerl.
By the way, when Serhiy Petrovych was driving to work that day, a rainbow appeared on both sides of the sun, which had just risen from behind the horizon. A good omen for the beginning of a good deed...
Lyudmila Kucherenko,
Chair of the Public Council under the Department of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences in the Poltava Region