14 days afterwards, long time church leader and you will theologian Igor Kozlovsky, just who spent almost couple of years just like the prisoner of pro-Russian separatists, passed away out of a stroke. He was 70.
‘He safe his family, all of our country’
Born ily in the an outlying Ukrainian village, Vinogradar’s moms and dads split up as he is actually younger. Their mother remarried, with his experience of his stepfather was strained, told you Alexei Kalchuk, an old minister regarding Ukrainian town of Mariupol and you will long time friend.
“Whenever their mommy gave beginning so you’re able to their stepfather’s young man and you may de- completely superfluous within happier relatives,” Kalchuk advised The new Christian Chronicle. Vinogradar decided to go to good boarding school inside the Poltava, where an instructor ingrained into the him a love for his country. The guy turned a great cadet of one’s Ukrainian Cossacks.
“During their last danska sexiga kvinnor couple of years out of study during the boarding college or university, Christians regarding Chapel away from Christ started initially to check out the college,” Kalchuk told you. “They educated courses regarding importance of moral and spiritual values in the individual life, and you may Artem soon generated family with Christians and you may started to sit-in chapel meetings.” He was baptized inside the 2018.
He graduated at the ages 17, “and you will left the new wall space that had heated your in recent times,” Kalchuk told you. “Unsure what direction to go second and you can where to go, he considered this new church, and therefore currently believed Artem become one its own.”
The guy lived witch chapel players and you can became alongside Christians together with Fedor Chernichkin, a good minister on the Church out of Christ who transferred to Poltava shortly after professional-Russian separatists caught control over their homeland into the east Ukraine’s Donbas area from inside the 2014.
“He had been more youthful and determined so you can suffice in the church and getting dedicated so you can God,” certainly Vinogradar’s family unit members, Artur Lytvynenko, told Suspilne, Ukrainian social broadcast. “I remember him just like the an early on, stubborn and you may brave guy with a very hard core.”
Vinogradar went to the new Ukrainian Bible Institute – which had relocated from east Ukraine on the country’s investment, Kyiv. The school is with the Texas-centered Sundown Global Bible Institute.
“He was a-sharp student, and i will always be remember his a good character, their look with his choose to make fun of,” said Brandon Price, director of Ukrainian Bible Institute. “He’d beat much in his earlier in the day, with his future was vibrant.”
His girlfriend, Valentina, also had defeat an emotional past, Kalchuk told you. Orphaned at age step three, she spent my youth of the their aunt and also have had read from the good boarding university.
“Artem will concerned Valentina’s family and assisted their girlfriend and you will their own (aunt) on the cleaning to become romantic,” Kalchuk told you. “He had been coached on the church how an excellent Religious will want to look immediately following good girl … In the near future Valentina accepted Christ to the their particular existence and additionally they started initially to attend meetings of your own Chapel out-of Christ together.”
“Artem and you may Valentina desired to become the ideal parents because of it baby,” Kalchuk told you. “They wanted to offer him just what no one gave all of them … They been successful. However in February, the battle first started.
“Artem, currently a youthfulness commander throughout the chapel, assisted in the serving immigrants and you can refugees. He registered the brand new ranking off volunteers exactly who exhausted folks from cities which were from the conflict area and you may transferred as well as earliest help in order to places that there clearly was no fuel, interaction and you may liquid, however, there clearly was dying and you can destruction. His wife is waiting around for him yourself and you may prayed one to this cup perform pass off your.”
“Whenever Artem entitled their partner and you will loved ones, he always mentioned that he did not need certainly to destroy some body and (which he) expected that the combat create prevent just before the guy finished their degree. But the guy including said that he had been titled to defend their nation, household, friends – and this refers to other while there is zero deeper like than if anybody provides their existence to have his family members,” Kalchuk said, citing John .
Vinogradar supported because the an effective sniper throughout the airborne assault unit, Suspilne said. He passed away for the handle Aug. 15 nearby the community out of Verbove.
Valentina was pregnant with regards to second youngster. System to have Humanitarian Support, a beneficial nonprofit backed by congregations such as the A&Meters Church off Christ within the School Route, Texas, paid down this new couple’s rent while they supported the fresh new church.
“Artem was our students – and you may element of PHA’s ministry for a long time,” told you Wes Hawthorne, advancement manager into nonprofit and a person in this new An effective&Yards church. “The guy stumbled on the june camps for many years.”
Preacher-Turned-Soldier and you may Tortured Theologian Mourned inside Ukraine
Their wife and you will child gone to live in Greece with Chernichkin with his friends. Ukrainians across European countries mourn, together with Kalchuk, which spent 51 months trapped from the Mariupol church’s building with other believers just like the severe assaulting raged exterior.
“My brother is killed,” told you Kalchuk, now inside Poland. “He secure his members of the family, our nation, their pupils. Artem, we’re going to certainly view you! Others within the serenity, my good friend.”
