Reading for Spiritual Renewal

Review by Olena Wawryshyn

At this solemn Lenten time of self-reflection, almsgiving and prayer, The Last Shall Be First is a book well worth reading. A compelling account of the triumph of good over evil, the book consists of the memoirs of Reverend Ihor Tsar, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) prison chaplain in Lviv oblast, as well as the stories and letters of prisoners. The foreword is by Myroslav Marynovych, vice rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University. Written originally in the Ukrainian language, it has been translated into English by Halyna Pastushuk and Zorian Stech of Toronto.

Rev. Tsar, born in 1958 in Western Ukraine, had grandparents who taught him Christian values and Ukrainian history,  though of his childhood, he writes: “Where there is no love between parents, children have a crippled fate, for the parents often let out their anger on their children. So it was with me.” By age 16, he was registered with the police. His main goal “was to get drunk and fight.”  He quit school and worked as a locksmith, but was soon conscripted into the Soviet Army’s notorious Zabaikalsky military district in Siberia. 

The conditions there were horrendous. There were daily fights, gangs that murdered men for the thrill of it and officers who set ferocious dogs to chase soldiers for sport.  In two years, “more than 70 people perished, and how many more lost their mind,” writes Rev. Tsar.

When he returned home, Tsar was haunted by nightmares, tempted by alcohol, and even contemplated murder.  But repeatedly, prayers and God’s Providence saved him. He started training physically (as a boy he learned martial arts to be ready to defend Ukraine) and attending church services regularly, at a time when this was not politically acceptable. 

His friendship with Olena Kost and her family was also influential in his spiritual development. They discussed religion, and it was at the Kost’s where the first of a string of miraculous healings by Tsar took place.

Tsar then became involved with members of the underground Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church and, at the age of 33, became a priest.  After ordination, he moved to Kamianets Podilsk where, despite difficult circumstances and intimidation, he built up a strong parish. 

Once, when he was asked to serve a Divine Liturgy for prisoners, he felt “among friends.” Afterwards, he received a letter urging him to come back. Thus, he found himself “behind bars.” The prisoners responded to Rev. Tsar’s ability to speak in terms they understood and his sincerity. In time, around 300 prisoners regularly attended Divine Liturgy and up to 500 on feast days. He baptized many of them.

Rev. Tsar calls them “my dear prison lambs.”  “They are usually orphans, children from asylums and special homes, children of alcoholics, divorced people, people with a mangled destiny and a shattered heart,” he writes.” “Most of all they need love, attention, tenderness warmth and a human touch.”

“If their biological mother has forsaken them, then there is a heavenly Mother, the Immaculate Virgin Mary, who loves them dearly and is always ready to come and help. When I speak to them about this, I often see tears in their eyes, as well as a hope for a better life in heaven.”

But Rev. Tsar also cares for their material needs. “What’s the use of giving deep sermons,” he writes, “if you see a hungry person before you while you are telling them fairytales?” With the help of supporters, he brings them food, clothes, gifts on St. Nicholas Day, and medicine.  He also instils pride in their Ukrainian identity and points to the communist system as largely the source of evil that has led to many social ills in Ukraine.

In the prisoners’ stories and letters, the impact of Rev. Tsar’s work is evident.  For example, Yevstakhiy writes: “For the first time in my 45 years, I am getting closer to people and to God… I am grateful to you, Father Ihor for in your sermons you always remind us that we are also God’s children and the first one to go to heaven was a thief/prisoner.”

Another prisoner, Serhiy, writes that he knew practically nothing about God because his mother was a communist and his father an agnostic. “With his [Rev. Tsar’s] help, I have read more spiritual literature here than during all the years of my existence in a drunken state. … Some say that when they get to prison they begin to exist, and in freedom they lived. I would put it differently, that without God, be it in prison or in freedom, there is no life but sheer existence.”

Yet another inmate, Taras, convicted for murder, chronicles his spiritual journey throughout his prison term until his release. In his letters, he expresses his concern for the spiritual well-being of his young daughters and his desire “to lead a normal Christian life.”

Rev. Tsar, who has authored several other books, says he wrote The Last Shall Be First to help fellow priests, to encourage others to visit prisoners and treat them with love and compassion, and to offer guidance to help prevent people from ending up in prison.

The book also demonstrates the role of the underground Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine’s struggle for independence and religious freedom during the dark period of communism. It also touches on issues confronting organized religion in Ukraine today.

In addition, Rev. Tsar’s memoirs demonstrate how role models can spur others to positive action.  As a child, he idolized leaders in the Ukrainian independence movement such as Stepan Bandera, and as a priest he “memorized almost all of the works of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and applied his tactics in seizing human souls.” In turn, The Last Shall Be First may similarly inspire others to take Rev. Tsar’s goals as their own.

The Last Shall Be First is available for $10 at St. Nicholas and St. Demetrius parishes, in Toronto, and St. Elias, in Brampton.  All proceeds are going to support the charity work of Rev. Tsar.

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Reverend Ihor Tsar