A documentary on the suffering of evangelical Christians in Ukrainian shows that one of the purposes of Russian invasion is to degrade Christianity.
Stephen Moore, founder of the Ukrainian Freedom Project and co-producer of the Besieged Faith, said the country is surprisingly “highly functional” from the Ukrainian capital Kiev, despite the challenges of a consistent attack on the population.
“I understand that people outside Ukraine think that Kiev could turn into smoke and smoke,” Moore, who had lived there since the fifth day of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
But in 18% of the territory ruled by Russia, “the worst thing is happening in the world,” Moore said – torture, imprisonment, indoctrination, child enticement, brutal murder.
For example, the occupied areas of Zaporisia and Herson regions in the southeast are currently under the control of Ramzan Kadyrov, a Chechen Muslim warlord who declared “orthodox Muslim jihad” against the Ukrainians.
With his identity hidden for security reasons, Peter testifies in his documentary to the reality of occupation.
“They are making our land appropriate again from Muslims and Caucus from Chechnya, and they are focusing on eliminating other religious denominations,” he says of Chechnya’s intentions in favour of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
God’s Call
Moore, co-producer Colby Barrett and executive producer Anna Schwetsova began with a call Barrett received from a graduate friend who invited him to join the aid convoy to Ukraine.
Barrett, a US Marine Corps veteran and entrepreneur, said he had never met Ukrainians, saying he had “have no ties to Ukraine,” but his experience during many visits challenged his presumptions, particularly about the conflicts Christians carry so badly under Russian rule.
He felt he had a further challenge when his studies revealed how Christians suffered there.
“At the time, statistics were incredible and have been getting worse since then. 630 churches have been fired, looted or destroyed by Russia. The number is now 650,” Barrett said. “Thousands of churches have been seized in the occupied territory and converted into military barracks, city buildings and other types of state buildings. Forty-seven priests and pastors have been killed by Russians. He is now 49 years old.
Barrett soon realized that he had a call from God to produce films that not only assisted in providing practical assistance to Ukraine, but also to help Western evangelicals understand the underreported or misunderstood reality.
“I’ve never made a documentary before,” he said. “I don’t have that background, but I’ve worked with the team throughout my career. I’ve been a Marine for four and a half years.
This experience helped Barrett feel confident in enlisting the Ukrainian film crew alongside a post-production team in New York. The Ukrainian Freedom Project supported the introduction to Ukrainian evangelicals, allowing them to tell their stories.
“We made the conscious decision not to interview people about films that are still in the occupying territory,” Barrett said. “It probably made a better film, but it put them in a serious danger. All the people we spoke of were in the area where the Russians were kicked out.”
Barrett, in particular, recalls meeting many young people who had escaped the profession and fled the possibility of removal. 19,546 Ukrainian children have been accused of Russia up until now.
It was also challenging to tell the stories of those who fled without putting their relatives still living in the occupied territory, who could have been tortured or imprisoned like Peter, in order to ensure that the film was “doing good and not harmed.” He recalls a young woman sentenced to prison for terrorist activities by Russian authorities after she conducted a small Bible study at her home.
“It’s really dangerous for the followers out there,” Barrett said, adding that due to such security threats, there are no stories to appear in the film.
Barrett wanted to find an evangelical escape from the occupied territories to tell their stories. One person who escaped torture and imprisonment spoke to Barrett, who was later contacted by agents from the Russian Federation Security Agency (FSB) and informed him of what 16-year-old nie was wearing at school that day.
“It’s the level of intimidation people face who want to talk about it, people who want to share their stories,” Barrett said.
The film has been on display in various media networks in the US and has become a topic of discussion by an estimated 50 online influencers, but Barrett said there has been a long-standing problem with conservative American Christians who are ignorant about the reality that Ukrainian evangelicals suffered.
“That’s mainly because there’s a certain powerful person in the conservative media ecosphere who says things that aren’t entirely true about what’s going on here,” he said. “These people are powerful and rich, and it’s hard to resist the truth and its stories. But the good news is that when you tell people the truth, they come.”
It was very encouraging to let the truth know about what Christians are facing in Ukraine.
“I think there’s a real hunger in the real, direct stories of what’s going on in Ukraine,” Barrett said, adding that the misinformation is abundant from experts and Russian propaganda. “We really got through everything and said, ‘Who’s the person who’s happened? Let’s ask them. Let’s make their story the real highlight of this.
The film features footage of former Marines and US special forces on the frontline and features a Green Beret Beret Hickey serving the military. Barrett said the raw footage would help reveal the brutal reality.
“What’s going on is scary, and I challenged me, thinking about my faith, what you know, and how easy I have as an American Christian,” Barrett said. “No Russian soldiers will appear in my church on Sunday. I can worship freely. It is a blessing, it is a gift. And Ukrainian believers, their faith is very strong to remain faithful while being subject to torture, murder and imprisonment… to worship God.”
Moore said Russian laws were passed in occupied areas that criminalize public sermons of the gospel. Protestants seeking to hold church services in occupying areas must first register the building. All parishioners must be registered and recorded on a list with the occupational authorities. And if less than 30 people with Russian passports participate in church services, it is considered illegal terrorist activities.
“And the reason is that if you have 30 Russian passport holders there, at least one of them will be able to partner with the (Russian) state and report on the activities that are taking place,” Moore said. “Pastors are forced in a variety of ways to try and work with the occupational authorities.”
Most evangelicals and other Christians secretly worship in those areas, and meet in very small groups, he said.
“They haven’t given up on their faith,” he added. “I don’t say that faith thrives there, but the Russians couldn’t push it out.”
Ukraine is known as the Eastern European Bible Belt, as American missionaries have “inundated” the country since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moore said. As a result, Protestant ecosystems flourished until Ukrainian churches began sending missionaries abroad.
Before the Russian invasion, veteran evangelist Franklin Graham was even able to hold an event at LVIV with 39,000 people. Such large events are now considered unsafe.
“Individual faith is thriving,” Moore said. “And as you approach the forefront of (war), it’s the size of the church.
This “prosperous ecosystem” is reflected in the wider Ukrainian society, encouraging Christian faith, with pastors from various denominations enlisting in the military and encouraging new events. In fact, there are still not enough pastors to meet the spiritual and practical needs of the military guardians who protect their country.
“In America, there’s all these fights about the role of government in the church and the role of the church in the government,” said Moore, who once worked as former deputy deputy GOP WHIP, US Republican Pete Rosscum. “And you cannot put ten commandments on the lawn of the court, as the American Civil Liberties Union comes after you. In contrast, in the city of Kiev, the official symbol is the archangel Michael, which is everywhere.”
In Ukraine, biblical references are engraved on signs. Moore said he once saw a biblical poem on a sign while driving to the city of Odessa.
trend
Barrett pointed to a stronger Christian tendency in Ukraine as a result of the invasion, beginning with a greater sense of faith in Protestant prosperity. The exception to the small, secret gathering is the ongoing construction of a building for the megachurch, which houses 4,500 worshipers in Kiev.
Moore said the people were separated from orthodox denominations loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. There, in a Moscow church where Kiril declared a “holy” war with Ukraine, he says that all their sins will be washed away when Russians fight and die in Ukraine.
“People don’t want to have connections with churches that have ties to Moscow. They’re moving to either Protestant denominations or to an Orthodox church in Ukraine,” Moore said. “There is a power centre in Kiev and there is also a national church in its own country.”
Barrett said people wanted to hear messages of hope and resilience, especially near the front, and the fact that pastors and priests were not fleeing helped them to give them a sense of orderly religion, whether they had faith or not, by attending church services.
Barrett saw a comparison between Israel and early Roman churches. Christians will continue to care for the sick and poor when plague occurs in cities that were “gasoline to expand their faith.”
“You see something similar there. The Ukrainian pastors and priests stay, deliver assistance, serve their flocks and the community in general,” he said. “So it’s really heartbreaking to see them going through this, but the other is so encouraging and I see them living their faith in a genuine way.”
Barrett asks evangelicals from other countries in the US and in the West to “cut through the noise,” looking at what is actually happening to Ukrainian Christians, quoting 1 Cor. 12:26a, “And when a part of the body suffers, every part suffers from it.” He adds that while Ukraine may seem far apart, evangelicals are responsible for alleviating the suffering of Christ’s brothers and sisters.
“You need to know what’s going on. You need to do anything that’s in your power. It could just be a prayer,” he said. “But the followers we meet there can tell you, they can feel the prayers that come from the international community concretely.
Non-profit films that can be viewed by clicking here are on display at Newsmax, CBN News, Salem and other US media networks. A guide to prayer can be found at https://www.faithundersiege.com/how-to-help
