CNEWA is co-sponsoring an evocative icon exhibit in the Chicago area on 31 March in view of raising awareness and funds for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, brought on by Russia’s monthlong invasion of Ukraine.
The Stand With Ukraine Fundraiser will feature original icons painted on the lids of wooden ammunition boxes, salvaged from the war that raged in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region against Russian-backed separatists since 2014.
In addition to their beauty, the icons in their very medium are also symbolic of how, through faith, vehicles of suffering and violence can be transfigured into instruments of peace, hope, redemption and life.
Kyivan iconographers Oleksandr Klymenko and his wife, Sofia Atlantova, have been creating these icons, which have come to be known as “The Icons on Ammo Boxes,” since 2015. The proceeds from the sale of these icons have been supporting a volunteer field hospital in the Donbas.
However, this Thursday’s exhibit, spearheaded by the nonprofit Rebuild Ukraine and its founding director, Paul L. Gavrilyuk, will raise funds for general relief in Ukraine. Born in Kyiv, Mr. Gavrilyuk is a Ukrainian Orthodox theologian, who holds the Aquinas Chair in Theology and Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is also the founding president of the International Orthodox Theological Association.
The exhibit will be held at Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church, 14610 Will Cook Road, in the Chicago suburb of Homer Glen, Illinois, on 31 March. The event will begin at 7 p.m., with a presentation by Mr. Gavrilyuk.
As an event co-sponsor, CNEWA will receive half of all of the free will donations made that evening.
Other co-sponsors include the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Free admission. For more information, go to Stand With Ukraine Fundraiser. Unable to attend the event, donate to CNEWA’s Ukraine relief fund now at: https://cnewa.org/campaigns/ukraine/