This year, the joy of the Lord’s Resurrection is twofold. On the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring, we celebrated Easter with our Orthodox brothers and sisters.

Those hosting Ukrainians displaced by war made sure to have a festive breakfast together in their homes. The guests also happily prepared baskets decorated with embroidered towels and flowers which were filled with Passover, Easter eggs, butter, sausage, and salt.

At 3:30 p.m. our monastery church was filled with guests from Ukraine, who arrived from Chelmno and the surrounding areas. The service was led by Rev. Mitrat Col. Mikolaj Hajduczenia, pastor of St. Nicholas Church in Torun, together with psalmist Lukasz Hajduczenia, who beautifully sang Orthodox prayers. Fr. Nicholas filled the hearts of the faithful with hope and encouraged them to nurture joy, saying that Christians are people who do not walk around with a gloomy face because their Lord has defeated death. Later there was a solemn blessing of both the basket and the person who brought it.

At the end of the celebration, all were invited to share from a common table and to participate in activities envisioned to help ease a little the pain of leaving Ukraine and enkindle hope that good will always triumph over evil, peace over war.