Long before the earthquakes in February, the viability of the Christian community in Samandag had been under cultural and economic threat. Many from the city’s minority Christian community had already departed, seeking economic or educational opportunities elsewhere.

“The church of Odesa shares the pain of its inhabitants. The church is not a building; it is people,” said Archpriest Maximian Pogorelovskiy, a spokesperson for the Orthodox Diocese of Odesa.