New Testament saves life of 35-year-old member of Territorial Defence

The New Testament of the Bible has saved the life of Stepan, a 35-year-old member of the Territorial Defence from the Ukrainian region of Prykaprattia. The book, given to him by a priest back when he was at school, saved Stepan from an explosion which occurred 10 metres away from him.

Source: Oksana Korchynska, activist and volunteer at a stabilisation centre for the wounded, who told his story to Ukrainska Pravda.Zhyttia.

The soldier was in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. On 2 April, he was injured and taken to a stabilisation centre located on the border of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

The soldier’s injuries looked serious, and the medics prepared for the worst.

"He was conscious when he arrived. The injuries looked very serious. Yet, when the medics removed the bandages and did an ultrasound, they were shocked. There was no shrapnel in his stomach," Korchynska recalls.

It turned out the shrapnel had struck a copy of the New Testament, which was inside the soldier’s belt bag. The soldier, who was not wearing a bulletproof vest, only received lacerations, while the internal organs inside the abdomen were not injured.

According to Oksana Korchynska, Stepan is a Greek Catholic. He has been carrying the New Testament, which saved his life, for 17 years.

When Stepan was a pupil in year 10, a priest came to his school and gave him this book.

The soldier is in hospital in Kyiv at the moment, and is in good condition.

The National History Museum of Ukraine became interested in his story. It wants to make the copy of the New Testament, slashed in half, an exhibit at the museum. Stepan does not mind.

The volunteer shared some more stories about injured soldiers. Once a soldier, who seemed to have a minor wound, was taken to a stabilisation centre. He said that "something hit him in the cheek and knocked out two teeth".

"The soldier was constantly asking to be released back to his military unit, saying it was not that bad. He did not want to wait in a queue for a mobile x-ray," Korchynska recalls.

The soldier was not released, and an x-ray showed there was a bullet stuck in his jaw.

The volunteer also told about another soldier who was injured in the abdomen with a small piece of shrapnel. Although small, it went through many internal organs, and the medics were fighting for his life for a long time.

Yet, what is the most frightening is when injured children are taken to the centre.

"I remembered a brother and sister who had lost their parents. We treat a lot of civilians, including those with severe head injuries," she reveals.

She states that military medics currently lack armoured vehicles for transporting injured patients.

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