Father Nazari Polataiko conducts a service at the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Silver Lake March 1, 2022. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Rev. Nazari Polataiko was accustomed to seeing people seeking comfort in church during tough times.

But since the Russian forces rolled their tanks into Ukraine in February, more parishioners flocked to Silver Lake’s Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Cathedral, seeking moments of peace, support and ways to help refugees from Ukraine.

“People are upset about the war, about death, about not being able to help in a tangible way,” he said. “They donate money and pray. It’s all we can do but people want to do more.”

Rev. Polataiko is one of many Orthodox leaders and parishioners in Southern California approaching Easter with prayer and care for people affected by the devastating war.

This year Orthodox Easter, or Pascha, falls on April 24. That day parishioners flock to church carrying colored eggs and sweet bread known as kulich marked by letters ”X” and ‘’B,” written in Cyrillic which stands for ”Christ Is Risen.”

Father Nazari Polataiko conducts a service at the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Silver Lake March 1, 2022. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Pascha is also known for razgoveniye, which means breaking the fast, accompanied by a feast and dishes generally banned during Great Lent, including eggs, meat and sweets.

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But preparations for the holiday this year coincided with Vladimir Putin’s launching of the war to reassert influence over its eastern neighbor, pummeling Ukraine cities with deadly airstrikes and forcing millions of people to flee to neighboring countries.

Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral has a long history as a spiritual refuge for many Orthodox parishioners. Founded in 1923 by a group of Russian emigrants, it was named after the icon “Rescuer of the Perishing.” Among its known parishioners were actress Natalie Wood and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, whose piano can still be found in the church’s adjacent building.

Still, the connection with Russia is mostly historical, Polataiko said. These days the church’s flock includes Americans, Ukrainians, Armenians, Russians and other Orthodox Christians. The church is part of the Diocese of the West and is not affiliated with the Moscow patriarchate.

In recent weeks, Polataiko said the church has sought ways to support those in need. Since the beginning of the war, the Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral has sent about $700,000 to Poland to support refugees from Ukraine.

Just recently two families with children arrived from Odesa and Kyiv, Polataiko said. His own parents live in Chernivtsi, a southwestern town in Ukraine, and have slept in the basement of their house since the war began.

“Every week we have more refugees come to us and ask for assistance,” Polataiko said. He plans to expand his outreach, visiting Tijuana where many Ukrainian refugees are camping and waiting to cross the U.S. border.

Closer to the battlefront, throngs showed up to pray on Good Friday at the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lviv, Ukraine, on Friday, April 15.

Though most Ukrainians will celebrate the Resurrection on Orthodox Easter on April 24, many attended church on Friday to pray for peace and an end to the bloodshed. Churches were likely to be packed again on Sunday.

Lviv has served as a stopover and shelter for the millions of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, either to the safety of nearby countries or the relative security of western Ukraine.

Pope Francis opened Holy Week with a call for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the need for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.”

Pope Francis hoists the Gospel book during a Chrism Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Thursday, April 14, 2022. During the mass the Pontiff blesses a token amount of oil that will be used to administer the sacraments for the year. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic, Pope Francis last Sunday called for “weapons to be laid down to begin an Easter truce, not to reload weapons and resume fighting, no! A truce to reach peace through real negotiations.”

But no such truce emerged as the week advanced. The invasion’s shockwaves continue to be felt around the world.

At St. Innocent Orthodox Church in Tarzana, Father Yousuf Rassam said many of his parishioners with Ukrainian and Russian roots experienced a sense of shock and horror when the war started.

Father Yousuf Rassam of St. Innocent Orthodox Church in Tarzana Thursday, April 14, 2022. Rassam said many of his Ukrainian and Russian parishioners experienced a sense of shock and horror when Russia rolled into Ukraine. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG

“Many people cried and I cried with them,” he said. “I earnestly want everything to finish yesterday. I feel just pain and sorrow.”

He has been focused on providing emotional support to parishioners. Many of them have families and friends in Ukraine and Russia.

Lana Holdcroft, a parishioner of St. Innocent Orthodox Church and a resident of Sherman Oaks, said she prays for peace in Ukraine.

“We are praying for this horror to end,” she said, adding that she has friends in both Ukraine and Russia. “We can’t allow people to die like this. People would rather kill their neighbor than love their neighbor. I’m going to pray about people to stop hating each other.”

People kneel as Father Nazari Polataiko conducts a service at the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Silver Lake March 1, 2022. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Both the Tarzana church and the Silver Lake church trace their history back to the year 988 when pagan ruler Vladimir I decided to unite the people under one religion in lands now known as Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. After choosing Orthodox Christianity and getting baptized in the city of Chersonese, modern-day Crimea, Vladimir I started what later became known as the Christianization of Kievan Rus.

Father Rassam notes that “Putin says, ‘We’re all one people. We’re related people.’ And that’s a historic truth. But if you think these people are your cousins or your brothers, well, then don’t bomb them. How do you call Kyiv the mother of Russian cities and then bomb it? This disturbs me.”

People kneel as Father Nazari Polataiko conducts a service at the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Silver Lake March 1, 2022. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

In speaking with his parishioners about the war he found “There are elements of the Russian position, which people hold here. But even they are unenthusiastic about actually bombing Ukrainian cities.”

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Now, as the war is entering its eighth week, Rassam said his parish is trying to move forward, comforting the ones who have family and friends in Ukraine.

“We pray a lot for it,” he said, “and we hope that the war is over soon.”

As he prepares for his Easter Liturgy, Polataiko said he will focus on giving people guidance to find inner peace and to trust that “good is always winning.”

“Trust that evil eventually will be defeated,” he said. “This is what Pascha is about. This is what the day of resurrection of Christ is about.”