Heritage
By Oleksandr Rodichev - Posted at Oleksandr’s Substack:
Published July 22, 2025
'...generation to come would know, the children yet to be born, That they would arise and tell them to their children, So that they would put their confidence in God' Psalm 78:6-7
When I was born, my parents were not yet believers. I came into this world in the penultimate year of the Soviet Union, where atheism was the dominant “religion.” I don’t know if they ever pondered questions about the nature of existence. However, as a child, I was often sick, and I know this prompted my mother to seek help from Someone she did not yet know. The thought that there might be something greater began to stir in her heart because of me.
In the early 1990s, as the great atheist empire collapsed, believers from all over the world began to come into a land where no one knew God. I am deeply grateful to all those people who traveled to the countries of the former Soviet Union. Would I want to be a missionary to North Korea if its regime were to fall? Yes, absolutely. That’s why I understand and admire those missionaries so much—especially in those days when there was no internet, no easy way to call home. A letter with a simple question or news could take a month or more to reach their families, and another month for a reply to come back.
But this is the part about children. My family searched for God for years, changing congregations along the way. I belong to the first generation of children born to believing parents in my country. In many regions of Ukraine, there are children today who are or will become the first generation born to Christian parents.
In my school of over 1,000 students, when I graduated there were exactly 1,032. Among all Christian denominations combined, there were only five children whose parents attended church regularly and lived as faithful believers. In my early teens, I knew almost every child of believing parents among the Churches of Christ, and they weren’t in the hundreds—they were only a few dozen. I remember attending a single youth camp where we all met for the first time. It felt miraculous.
But I also want to speak of the tremendous social pressure. This pressure will continue for many generations, especially in Europe.
There’s a part where the Bible is silent, but it’s clear if you think about it: among those baptized by John, among those who listened to Jesus, among those who were persecuted and killed during the apostles’ lifetimes, among Christians enduring famine in Judea and receiving aid, and among those fleeing Jerusalem before its destruction—there were children. There were children of Christians whose parents were burned as torches, children of Christians whose parents were devoured by lions, and children of Christians who were crucified and tortured.
Likewise, there were parents who watched as these same horrors were inflicted on their children. Every hero in the Bible is someone’s child.
In the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia, there is no religious freedom. This makes the chilling words of Jesus resonate more deeply...
In the early 1990s, as the great atheist empire collapsed, believers from all over the world began to come into a land where no one knew God. I am deeply grateful to all those people who traveled to the countries of the former Soviet Union. Would I want to be a missionary to North Korea if its regime were to fall? Yes, absolutely. That’s why I understand and admire those missionaries so much—especially in those days when there was no internet, no easy way to call home. A letter with a simple question or news could take a month or more to reach their families, and another month for a reply to come back.
But this is the part about children. My family searched for God for years, changing congregations along the way. I belong to the first generation of children born to believing parents in my country. In many regions of Ukraine, there are children today who are or will become the first generation born to Christian parents.
In my school of over 1,000 students, when I graduated there were exactly 1,032. Among all Christian denominations combined, there were only five children whose parents attended church regularly and lived as faithful believers. In my early teens, I knew almost every child of believing parents among the Churches of Christ, and they weren’t in the hundreds—they were only a few dozen. I remember attending a single youth camp where we all met for the first time. It felt miraculous.
But I also want to speak of the tremendous social pressure. This pressure will continue for many generations, especially in Europe.
There’s a part where the Bible is silent, but it’s clear if you think about it: among those baptized by John, among those who listened to Jesus, among those who were persecuted and killed during the apostles’ lifetimes, among Christians enduring famine in Judea and receiving aid, and among those fleeing Jerusalem before its destruction—there were children. There were children of Christians whose parents were burned as torches, children of Christians whose parents were devoured by lions, and children of Christians who were crucified and tortured.
Likewise, there were parents who watched as these same horrors were inflicted on their children. Every hero in the Bible is someone’s child.
In the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia, there is no religious freedom. This makes the chilling words of Jesus resonate more deeply...
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