JEFFERSON COUNTY, Tenn. — In July, a new professor at Carson-Newman University settled into a furnished home in East Tennessee. For the fall, Dr. Vova Gorbenko will teach as a guest professor teaching in the School of Biblical and Theological Studies.
Before moving to East Tennessee, he worked as an academic dean at the seminary in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine. He was also a minister in his church, while his wife worked as a public school teacher. His 17-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter group up in the city too.
In February, their lives changed after Russia invaded Ukraine.
“This was not like a military operation they used to do in Donetsk or Crimea [in 2014], where they would intrude but actually say, ‘We have not been here,’ and its military personnel was without any identifications," he said. "This time, it was like the start of the Second World War because everyone knew these were Russian troops, Russian tanks, Russian helicopters and planes and rockets. It was all open."
Regardless of the invasion, he still went to work every day at the seminary. He said there were full-time students in the dorm, and they had to ensure they would get home as people in Zaporizhzhya started to panic. He said public transportation stopped working, and long lines formed at grocery stores and gas stations.
In February when he arrived at the seminary, he said everyone was in the basement taking cover from the explosions. He said the students were packed and ready to go, and with help from his colleagues, they coordinated transportation for each of them.
"That was the beginning of it," he said.
As the war raged, he continued ministering. Air raids became a part of his life with sirens every 2 hours, he said. Curfews were also put in place, and darkness descended on the city by 5 p.m. and people turned out their lights to hide.
He said one time, he received urgent calls asking for the church lights to be turned out. It was in the middle of apartment buildings, and people were worried Russian soldiers would spot the lights and attack. So, he responded to the call and traveled through the dark of night to turn off the lights.
He and his family started taking shelter in the basement of their home, he said.
"It’s not like rockets, but shelling outside of the house,” he said. “Once rockets are launched, the military personnel can give you a warning and sirens start to go. But with shelling, there is no way they can turn on the sirens in time.”
Eventually, two-thirds of his church had left and most of the seminary faculty departed. Stores also closed and food became harder to find.
“My wife, she couldn’t eat or drink," he said. "People take things like that differently. Some become hyperactive, some people become reserved like they are in shock.”
They made a split-second decision on a Sunday. A few hours before dark, his family made the decision to leave without knowing how far they would be able to get. They packed water, food, clothes and a tent. He said he had friends from teaching who could give shelter in western Ukraine.
They ultimately planned to run to a location around 18 miles outside of the Romanian and Moldovan border. His friends called him and provided information about how to avoid traffic blocking many of the roads, causing up to six hours of delays.
“I decided I would drive through the night during curfew," he said. "Even though it was more dangerous, I thought that between the cities, it would be okay. We didn’t stay overnight, and I drove for about 20 hours.”
They planned to cross the border into Moldova, avoiding the long lines at the Polish border. Then, the family planned to drive to Romania. However, some of the restrictions could have prevented them from leaving. Men between 18 years old and 60 years old were not allowed to leave Ukraine without a medical exception or if they had more than three children.
As they got closer to the checkpoint, he also said they were approached by a family who asked to help them cross the border. They said they had relatives in Germany, and asked if they could take them there. Dr. Gorbenko agreed.
He had documents that said he could not fight because of scoliosis and after around an hour of reviewing those papers, his family was allowed to pass through.
“We cried,” he said. “And me and my wife and kids prayed and just said, ‘Thank you Lord that we can be together.’ It was very special and very emotional.”
The husband of the family who approached them was forced to stay behind, but the rest accompanied Dr. Gorbenko to Germany. Eventually, a retired pastor was also able to help the Gorbenko family get an offer from a church in the U.S. to stay in its parsonage.
While there, Dr. Gorbenko started applying to different universities for work, and one of them was Carson-Newman University. He will work as the university's assistant director of campus ministries, as well as a guest professor.
One day, he said his family hopes to return to Ukraine. He also said he hopes that his students learn that the Bible is not a set of rules. From his classes, he said he hopes they understand it as a living story that invites them to participate in its telling.
“It's one thing to see it unfold in biblical narrative – for us as a family, it’s a story we are witnessing," he said.