Taras N. Dyatlik, project manager of the Slavic Bible Commentary (SBC), shares how the recent war in Ukraine impacted this resource. Writers on both sides of the conflict had to work together. They showed how the Bible speaks to people who have lost family, property, businesses. Taras says the commentary is a “monument to God’s grace”.
Taras was interviewed at LPUKI’s Vision Day last month. He said:
“In late November 2013, the ‘revolution of dignity’ started in Kiev, Ukraine and it lasted three or four months. It ended actually at the end of February three days of killing people by snipers and my nephew was killed.
“Later the annexation of Crimea happened in March and the war in Donbass region started. But this situation in Ukraine and in relationships with Russian churches, evangelicals, brought lots of new questions and challenges to the church.
Seeking the word of truth
The Slavic Bible Commentary was launched at a university in Ukraine in October 2016.
“I’m very glad that despite some differences, which we found very challenging and difficult, we were able to seek the word of truth, and to seek the questions from the Bible: how the church can respond in this time of two million refugees, thousands wounded, many people lots their families, their property, their business, everything.
“So how does the church respond to this and show the work of God in their lives and we try to respond to these questions especially in the book of prophets, in the Gospels, how the grace and mercy of God can be found in the time of when you feel you lose everything in your life.”
Taras said the biggest impact of the commentary will be helping Christians to ask questions about “God, society, church, family, community” and pointing them to the Bible for answers. The SBC also bridges a gap between highly academic resources and simplistic material that is currently available to pastors.
The Slavic Bible Commentary was published in Russian in 2016. There are plans to translate it into English and Ukrainian.
Preachers need the SBC
Taras said: “There was a big need for such a resource for preachers and church ministers.” This was highlighted by the rapid sales of the commentary: 10,000 copies were sold in just a couple of months. Taras’ own daughter uses the commentary when preparing to lead a Bible study for teenagers.
Speaking in 2017, Taras thanked Langham:
“Langham Partnership’s investment wasn’t just into a commentary, but also into strengthening the relationship between evangelicals from countries in a state of hybrid war. The Lord is the architect of history, and we’re thankful to Him for our partnership with Langham during all these years when the commentary was written.”
The project began in 2012, and was launched in Ukraine in October 2016. Read more about the launch, and listen to Taras’ full presentation at LPUKI’s Vision Day:
Click here to download the MP3 (Right click and select ‘Download Linked File’