Born into a large Christian family in Ukraine, Helga Marchak is one of 11 children. Her parents were committed Christians during the Soviet era when Christianity was forbidden. During this time they even ran an underground publishing house, printing New Testaments and Christian literature in their small apartment. “They couldn’t get a higher education because of their Christian faith,” Helga shares, “but they taught us to see the bigger picture of how the church can influence change.”
This early exposure to mission-driven work shaped Helga’s future. After studying journalism and working in Canada with marginalised communities, she returned to Ukraine, where her path shifted toward theological education. Over the past decade, she has worked to strengthen theological educators across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a mission rooted in her family’s dedication to gospel work.
The Slavic Bible Commentary: A Vision Amid Tensions
In 2013 Langham Partnership began working on the Slavic Bible Commentary, and Helga was part of the project. Her role was to assist the manager of the project, Taras Dyatlik, in this work. She shares, “Back then, I didn’t quite understand the huge scale of the work, but I was curious to learn more and to be as helpful as I could. At the same time, the Russian War started in Ukraine, which heavily affected the region.”
It was an amazing feat of God that the project was able to continue, and even to foster a sense of unity in the gospel.
Helga reflects, “I recall preparing for our first meeting of the Slavic Bible Commentary editorial board, which happened right after our cousin was killed at the Revolution of Dignity and the Russian War started in Ukraine in the spring of 2014. I remember the tensions between the members of the editorial board and the authors. We discussed the willingness of people to work together. We had to overcome our emotions for the unity of the church and the hermeneutical community.”
This whole experience was deeply personal, and nothing was discussed lightly. For the project to go ahead, it meant those Ukrainians involved had to work with representatives of the country who had invaded and caused the death of loved friends and family.
Helga shares, “It was a very personal reality to overcome, to focus on something that we could do to build bridges for the sake of the kingdom of God. I don’t know what was right, but we see now that [the] Slavic Bible commentary made a huge difference in the region, and it is the first commentary that was written by local authors in the region.”
The importance of including women’s voices
A significant milestone of the commentary was its inclusion of women contributors. Helga was especially pleased to see the change this brought!
“For the Slavic Bible Commentary, what was also crucial was that quite a few women were part of the contextual Bible commentaries writing, and that is also a huge change in our region,” Helga says.
This was a very intentional mission of Langham Partnership to make the voices of the women in the region heard. Helga explains, “These women who were part of the Bible commentaries, they also were empowered to do better or to write their own articles and books later on. And some of them were part of a Ukrainian doctoral program that we started in 2014.”
Despite the challenges of war, the Slavic Bible Commentary brought together voices from across divided communities to produce this contextual bible resource for its region.