ALLENTOWN, Pa. — During each Mass, the Rev. Richard Francis Jendras recites the ochinash, or Lord's Prayer, and asks parishioners to pray for peace in Ukraine.
Since 2022, clergy and members of St. Mary Ukrainian Orthodox Church have dedicated time and prayers to helping people in the war-torn country.
This weekend, the church will hold an art exhibition featuring the work of Ukrainian artist Jurij Hura. It will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday at the church at 1031 Fullerton Ave.
The proceeds will be donated to the 56th Battalion, a military troop in Bakhmut, and where Valeriy Shtyk served before losing his life in combat in 2023.
Shtyk's family, including his son Yurii, came to the Lehigh Valley as refugees in 2022 and are members of St. Mary's.
"We get distracted, but we cannot forget about what is going on in Ukraine."The Rev. Richard Jendras, St. Mary Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Yurii Shtyk, a 2023 graduate of Emmaus High School, resides with his aunt. His mother, Oksana, returned to Bakhmut, in eastern Urkaine, after her husband's death to attend to burial services, Jendras said.
"Because Yurii and his mother came here as refugees under what's called the "United for Ukraine" program, she can only come to the United States one time," he said. "We don't know if she'll ever be able to return."
Solar-powered generators, war veterans
The art exhibition features a collection of paintings by Hura, who fled Ukraine in the 1940s by way of Poland.
He later emigrated to the U.S. and lived in Philadelphia until his death in 2021.
Hura's exhibition, a mix of realism and abstract works, was organized in partnership with Ukrainian American Veterans Post 42, and member Jerry Kindrachuk, an executor for Hura's estate.
The post has been raising money for some time toward the purchase of solar-powered equipment for Ukrainian troops.
"One of the things Post 42 has been doing is raising money for generators that would help Ukrainian brigades and battalions in humanitarian efforts," Jendras said. "After learning about the Shtyks' story, they decided to dedicate the exhibition in honor of them."
'Ukraine will stand in the end'
The clergy at St. Mary's asks the public to pray and keep the faith as war rages on.
"Ukraine will come out of this," Jendras said. "I do believe that we're seeing it now because in the beginning we all believed that Ukraine wouldn't be able to last a week.
"And here we are, going into the third year of war. We wish it would be over, but the fact that Ukraine is still standing against the odds is an indication that Ukraine will stand in the end."
Every Tuesday, six clergy members from Catholic and Orthodox churches in the Lehigh Valley hold a special Mass to pray for the people of Ukraine.
The services, which start at 6:30 p.m., will be held at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Northampton on May 21; St. Mary Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Allentown on May 28; and St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church in Bethlehem on June 4.
"We get distracted, but we cannot forget about what is going on in Ukraine," Jendras said.
"I am grateful for this exhibit because it is exactly things like this that will keep it in the front of the minds of people who don't have a Ukrainian connection. We are grateful for the American people who have been supportive, but like anything else, after time we get distracted by other things."
For more information on the exhibition and Tuesday Masses, click here.
