Passers-by eye curiously the man and his bicycle with a trailer. He is met in towns and villages. Some are interested to listen to him; others are not. On June 27, he was spotted on the road from Yarmolynets, a district center, to Khmelnytsky. The next day he was seen in Letychev and then on to Vinnytsia and thereabouts, talking to people with a true inspiration, trying to convert them to his faith.
His first name is Nicholas, he is 30, born to a Ukrainian- Romanian family. He served in the Soviet Army, studied at a theological faculty in Romania and after graduation worked as an assistant to a monastery steward. On December 5, 1995, Nicholas (Mykola) Vakhniuk left the cloister and went off to pedal his way around the world, setting off on Independence Square in Kyiv. “My mission is to unite all people, regardless of the color, nationality, and creed,” the pilgrim explains.
Will his noble mission be a success? Who knows. They say he is on a third bicycles, after riding two to death. He has been to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Western Europe, Chechnya, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Syria, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland where he became a correspondent for Maria Catholic Radio. “But I haven’t traveled even half the world,” he says.
He has the time and stamina.
While his faith is strong and generally acknowledged, many wonder about his daily bread. When asked by The Day, Nicholas Vakhniuk replied, “I set off with some cash after selling my property. And when I ran out of money I had to look for sponsors. Thank God, there are kind-hearted people in this world. In Almaty, I received a large sum from a Capuchin by the name of Henri Howanz, editor of the newspaper Credo. And my trailer was made at a factory in Kharkiv.” He also receives help from Orthodox believers, Catholics, and ethnic Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, and Polish communities.
However, the young Cossack’s trip leaves not only pleasant memories. In Bulgaria, several fellows speaking Ukrainian relieved Nicholas of all his cash and then roughed him up for good measure. And he has had similar unpleasant experiences in certain newly independent states. And so he prefers to spend the night in a place “far enough from headlights.” There under the stars he thinks of the time when his pilgrimage will end and he can settle in place he likes best — he has been around but has not seen any such place, not yet. After that he will write a book about his travels. “God willing, I will sell the book and use the proceeds to raise a charitable fund to help the poor,” Nicholas muses.
His immediate concern is finding a fellow traveler, someone who shares his ideas. There is a man in Khmelnytsky named Oleh. Nicholas is trying to talk him into accompanying him in his endless trip round the world. Oleh is still undecided, maybe because of some problems of his own. Well, being a pilgrim is not easy.
