Rev. olexa  Harbuziuk Legacy

Пастор олекса Романович Гарбузюк

photo coming soon: Rev. Harbuziuk preaches at a church in Kyiv on May 27, 1990, possibly the church on Yomska street (Ямська).

This is the Baptist Church in Mlyniv, where Rev. Olexa R. Harbuziuk offered the dedicatory prayer on October 14, 1990.  [Thanks to Walter Polowczak for providing this photo]

1990

   When Olexa and Sophia visited Ukraine in the spring of 1990 as the USSR was crumbling, it was the first time that Olexa had set foot on the soil of his native Ukraine in nearly 50 years.

   Besides seeing a lot of his relatives, he paid a visit to the gravesite of his parents. He also delivered 25,000 Bibles in the Ukrainian language.
   During the monthlong stay in Ukraine -- May 25 to June 25 -- Olexa visited about 20 cities and towns. He preached 33 times, and he translated an American preacher 17 times.

   Olexa visited Ukraine again in October 1990, and he had the honor of offering the dedicatory prayer on October 14 for the new church building in Mlyniv, where his brother was pastor.

1992

   In the autumn of 1992, Olexa spent two weeks in Ukraine, including attending a congress of Rukh (Pyx).

1993

   In April 1993, Olexa spent one-and-a-half weeks in Ukraine, including attending a pastors conference in Kiev.
   Olexa had hoped to visit Ukraine a fifth time, but his illness prevented him from doing so..

Olexa and Sophia hold flowers that were presented to them at the Baptist church in Zhitomir in the spring of 1990. At least seven of the people in this photo immigrated to the Ukrainian Baptist Church of Chicago, and were still members as of October 2018. Behind Olexa is American pastor Richard Schuermann. Behind Sophia is Olexa's brother Aleksander, and left of him and slightly higher is brother Volodymyr. At bottom right is Pavlo Morozyuk; behind him is Oleksandr Ishchuk; behind him is Yuriy Golubok; above him at top is Anatoliy Bystritskiy; next to him is his wife, Lilya. The highest person in the middle is Petro Ivanov. Below Sophia is Angela Morozyuk, wife of Pavlo. (Thanks to Pavlo Morozyuk for providing this photo)

Olexa's travels to Ukraine in the 1990s

Rev. Harbuziuk is preaching in the Baptist church in Dubno, Ukraine, in 1990. The city is not far from the city of Mlyniv.

Photo gallery

Rev. Volodymyr Domashovetz and Rev. Olexa Harbuziuk can be seen in the second row left of center at the pastors conference in Kyiv in April 1993 that was sponsored by World Vision International. (Photo copied from the Messenger of Truth No. 7-8, 1993)

Sophia and Olexa stand beside the Dnipro River in the city of Dnipropetrovsk in June 1990.