On Monday, I was still worried that Russian troops, who had bypassed Izyum from the south, would break into Slavyansk. The distance between them and us is only half an hour by car. Now, for some reason, there is calm and readiness for everything. It’s Thursday and the enemy is still not here. But all these days, the cannon was heard - it was the Ukrainian military shelling the attackers. The defense line between Izyum and Slavyansk is very convenient to hold, I guess that the enemy also understood this, and now will break through Barvenkovo in order to get to Slavyansk from the west. However, he might not have enough time considering the crushing defeat he suffered in Rogani - a suburb of Kharkov. We have to fight with guerrilla’s weapons, which they have supplied enough. For their indecision Ukrainians pay with their lives.
Today I talked on Skype with father Vladimir Maglena. The conversation will be included into the cycle «War from the point of view of religion»: Topic «Fear». How to deal with your own fear when there is a war? Fear is natural and unnatural, paralyzing the will of man. In particular, people under fire will only experience fear when the threat is very specific and they stop responding to the hypothetical danger. As soon as it gets calm, there’s a relaxation, as if you return to a peaceful life without fear. Such fear is natural, because it does not suppress, but on the contrary helps to act adequately in a situation. But the further away from the front, the greater the fear of another kind, causing depression, weakness and the feeling of being the victim of circumstances. This fear stems not from direct danger, but from a pessimistic view of the world and a passive attitude to life.
I’m not in the line of fire yet, even though I can hear cannons all the time. Not like in Mariupol, which Russian troops systematically destroy. So before opening the video of the conversation about the war with f. Vladimir, I suggest you first look at the video diary of a teenage girl from Mariupol. She was lucky to survive, she was taken away. Under the shelling she spent two weeks, which fit in seven minutes of video recording.
This is a terrific video! You completely immerse in this island of everyday life within the unleashed hell. When you feel the inner calm of a teenage girl, it’s like you’re finding ground under your feet in this bottomless hell. This ground is the true being, which is revealed in the sense of the communion of the inner life of another person.
