• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Firefighters work at the site of a car maintenance workshop heavily damaged by a Russian airstrike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Dec. 6, 2024. Basilian Sister Lucia Murashko told OSV News that she, her fellow sisters and some 80 children narrowly missed a strike that day. (OSV News photo/Reuters)

Nuns, children almost killed in Russia’s St. Nicholas Day attack on Zaporizhzhia

December 12, 2024
By Gina Christian
OSV News
Filed Under: News, War in Ukraine, World News

Basilan Sisters and some 80 children in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia narrowly avoided being killed in a deadly Dec. 6 strike by Russia, as they celebrated a liturgy marking the feast of St. Nicholas.

“We were praying during the liturgy in our monastery,” Basilian Sister Lucia Murashko told OSV News in messages on Dec. 8 and 10 following the attack, which killed 10 and wounded more than 20.

Sister Lucia said the Ukrainian Catholic liturgy, which took place the evening of Dec. 6 in the sisters’ monastery chapel, was conducted in the dark due to scheduled power blackouts necessitated by Russia’s relentless targeting of Ukraine’s energy grid.

Firefighters work at the site of a car maintenance workshop heavily damaged by a Russian airstrike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Dec. 6, 2024. Basilian Sister Lucia Murashko told OSV News she, her fellow sisters and some 80 children narrowly missed a recent strike on the city of Zaporizhzhia. (OSV News photo/Reuters)

“Three to six hours every day, they switch off the lights in the city” at varying times, Sister Lucia told OSV News.

Despite the blackout, said Sister Lucia, the children were excited to honor the beloved fourth-century saint’s day, which in 2023 was moved from the traditional Dec. 19 to Dec. 6 as part of a shift by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the revised Julian calendar.

“We give them small presents, sweets and fruits and so on,” she said. “And the children were (performing) in a play about the life of St. Nicholas, a traditional play for children.”

In addition, “the children prayed to St. Nicholas” — but not for “gifts like smartphones or gadgets,” said Sister Lucia.

“They pray for their father who is a soldier, that he can come back home and healthy. They pray for the health of their brother,” she said.

But amid the prayers, a sudden — and sinister — light appeared, said Sister Lucia.
In the darkness, “we saw it very brightly,” she said. “At first, we saw the light explode, and then after a few seconds, we heard the sound of the explosion.”

The blast “was very close to us,” she said.

“It was very hard, because many people died, and people (were) burned (alive) in their cars because they were stopped at a light,” said Sister Lucia.

None of those in the monastery at the time were killed, but some of the victims were family friends of some of the children, she said.

“One of our young people — two of his father’s friends were burned in their car at a red light,” she said. “The explosion happened on the next street. They were 27 years old.

“It is not easy even to tell these stories,” she said.

Sister Lucia noted that Russia’s Dec. 10 strike on Zaporizhzhia — which killed at least 6 and wounded 22, while destroying a clinic — had taken place less than an hour prior to her message to OSV News that day.

“Again, people have died,” she said. “Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy on us.”

Russia’s war on Ukraine, which continues attacks launched in 2014 and escalated in 2022, has been declared a genocide in two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.

Read More War in Ukraine

Kyiv’s historic cathedral damaged in Russian air strikes

Yes, it’s our war, too

Pope speaks by phone with Russian leader Putin

Holy See calls for respect for human dignity, international law as civilian deaths soar

Pope wants peace, not a role in negotiations, Cardinal Parolin says

Basilian sister in Ukraine to Pope Leo: ‘Thank you’ and ‘come to us’

Copyright © 2024 OSV News

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Gina Christian

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Religious sisters played role in pope’s formation in grade school, N.J. province discovers

  • With an Augustinian in chair of St. Peter, order sees growing interest in vocations

  • Archbishop Lori announces appointments, including pastor and associate pastor assignments

  • Hundreds gather at Rebuilt Conference 2025 to ‘imagine what’s possible’ in parish ministry

  • Indiana Catholic shares story of his life-changing bond with friend who is now Pope Leo

| Latest Local News |

Archbishop Lori offers encouragement to charitable agencies affected by federal cuts

Incoming superior general of Oblate Sisters of Providence outlines priorities

Archbishop Lori announces appointments, including pastor and associate pastor assignments

Oblate Sister Trinita Baeza, teacher and pastoral associate in Baltimore, dies at 98

OLPH’s fourth eucharistic procession, set for June 21, ‘speaks to the heart’

| Latest World News |

House Republicans advance bill to repeal FACE Act

Pope ‘deeply saddened’ by tragic Air India plane crash

Diversity is cause for strength, not division, pope tells Rome clergy

Pope Leo to return to practice of ‘imposing’ pallium on new archbishops

As chaotic demonstrations erupt across U.S., Catholic experts counsel nonviolence

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • House Republicans advance bill to repeal FACE Act
  • Archbishop Lori offers encouragement to charitable agencies affected by federal cuts
  • Incoming superior general of Oblate Sisters of Providence outlines priorities
  • Archbishop Lori announces appointments, including pastor and associate pastor assignments
  • Pope ‘deeply saddened’ by tragic Air India plane crash
  • Television Review: ‘Patience,’ June 15, and streaming, PBS
  • While the U.S. bishops go on retreat this June, business follows them
  • Diversity is cause for strength, not division, pope tells Rome clergy
  • Oblate Sister Trinita Baeza, teacher and pastoral associate in Baltimore, dies at 98

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED