The master builder of Kyiv

By Maya Benediktovich

KYIV, Ukraine — As well as devotedly looking after his parishioners, Archpriest Vsevolod is a professional building engineer.

Recently this man – who is now more than 60 years old – spent two years doing not only his normal pastoral work in the church but physical work on the building site where his other project, the church of St Olga, was taking shape.

In zero temperatures and in rain he was always there amid his team of builders. This athletic-looking man with a kindly smile never lacked enthusiasm and never ceased to be inspiring.

Believers

Now he is building a second church, bigger than the first. Despite St Olga’s being finished just a little more than two years ago, it cannot hold all the believers.

And near the new church Father Vsevolod has already built a three-storey complex where the children’s Sunday School has begun and where sports facilities for the young people and a medical centre for the elderly await their equipment.

When complete, Kyiv will have not just a Sunday School but a fully-fledged Christian Centre. (WR 359/16 - 4/5.01)

Maya Benediktovich is a former Assistant to the Director of the Ukrainian Bible Society.