Missionary Pavel Radchuk 1961-2022
August 8, 2022 marks 20 years since missionary Pavel Radchuk went to be with the Lord.
Former president of SIA of Ministries “Good Samaritan,” Pastor-missionary Pavel Radchuk, dedicated all the years of his life for God’s ministry working in churches and on missionary fields. The Holy Spirit called him to preach the Gospel in Ukraine and Russia and also among the minority ethnic groups of Chukotka, area of an unreached Northeast Siberia.
The fruits of this difficult missionary work are evident; saved souls and many new churches. Pavel was always intensely working, rushing to accomplish all he could physically do for the glory of God. He burned with desire to reach those who were dying without God. He dreamed about a spiritual awakening of the North, of opening Bible centers, orphanages, and prayed fervently for new projects which God laid on his heart. He was a man with a vision that never quit.
But the life of this fiery preacher of the Gospel suddenly ended on Thursday, August 8, 2002. While on a mission trip to Alaska, Pavel tragically died in a ultra-light plane crash. In his 41st year of life, Pavel Radchuk left this earth for a new home in heaven, leaving a pregnant wife and seven children. The last son, Andrey, was born without a father.
His ministry touched thousands of lives. His death was an inspiration for many to change their lifestyle and to follow an example of a life worthy of imitation.
BIOGRAPHY
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF PAVEL RADCHUK:
Compiled by his oldest brother Slavik Radchuk
On August 8, 2002, at 41 years of age, he went into eternity: pastor, evangelist, missionary. 
Pavel Radchuk was born in West Ukraine in the village of Zozov, Rovno region. As a child, the spiritual character of a future minister was formed. Father Vitaliy and mother Galina, had eight children, so Pavel’s childhood, as a twin, was not a life of privilege or luxury. His father received 100 rubles a month and it wasn’t enough to take care of the family’s needs. Now, the sons and daughters are thankful to the Lord for their father and mother who taught them to pray and trust God to provide.
On his knees, in this childhood home, Pavel received salvation. Neither winter blizzards nor fall’s cold rains stopped the faithful Radchuk family from walking the five miles one way to their church, “Molodizhnaya” which was persecuted and underground. Pavel started to preach the gospel at a young age. His messages were on fire, inspired and anointed by the Holy Spirit.
In 1976, after finishing the eighth grade, the twins, Peter and Paul, went to an institute in the city of Rovno. Life as believers was not easy for the brothers. Only in the archives of heaven, is written all the insults, offenses and persecution that Pavel endured in the atheistic society. He was not afraid of hardships and in testing he remained firm. One time, a group of youth, including Pavel, was caroling on the streets of Rovno. In a couple minutes, police came and Pavel was jailed for 15 days. He paid his price for freedom.
In 1978, late at night, by moonlight, Pavel went into the waters of baptism in the Oostia River and promised to be faithful to his Lord for the rest of his life.
In 1980, Peter and Pavel entered their mandatory military service as construction workers, but not bearing arms, which would have been contrary to their beliefs. Officials tried to separate the twins but they continued to stand together, depending on and drawing closer to God.
In 1984, in Rovno, there was a missionary conference in the house of D. Stasyuk. Brothers as leaders were, bishops V.Boyechko, A. Grinchuk, and F. Arteshuk. There were fervent prayers for the ethnic peoples of Siberia, Russian Far East and Soviet Asia.Pavel, like many others there, in the presence of God, joyfully committed his life to preaching the gospel in those remote places.
In 1985, two years before Perestroika, Pavel, with a group of missionaries, was sent to Tuvenskaya Republic in Siberia, to work. After one half year, he had to leave because city authorities used television and influence from Moscow to interfere with their work. He had to go to new areas to spread the gospel.
In 1986, he was chosen and ordained as a deacon. In 1988, the long awaited freedom came. He was among the first to step out and preach the gospel publicly.
In 1989, he married Svetlana Holkovskaya. In the same year “Good Samaritan” mission was organized. Pavel was elected Vice President, but in 1991 he was put in the director position. Seven years of prayer and a Macedonian Call (“Come over and help us.”) from the Russian Far East, Chukotka and the Siberian North, compelled Pavel to fly to the wild and severe Siberian lands.
In 1992, the first missionary group, under the leadership of Pavel, landed in Chukotka and Kolima. A sacrificial and dangerous but wonderful work of good news among forty nationalities of the Russian Far East was started. Many times since then, we have gotten telephone calls from the city of Magadan, Kolima region, that Pavel was in a snowstorm and for a couple days there had been no communication from him. Christians would earnestly pray and Pavel would return safely. After two years of missionary activity, 20 new churches were started in the Far Northern Regions. These people used to be idol worshippers, shamans, atheistic and alcoholics, but by accepting the good news of Jesus Christ, with faith, they were set free, forgiven and washed by the blood of the Lamb. Faces, lives and whole families were changed.
In 1994, Pavel, together with his wife and four children, immigrated to the United States. After experiencing the heat of persecution and the bitter winds of Siberia, you would have thought that he would rest and not strive so hard in the “Land of Plenty”, America.
But NO! Founding the ministry in Seattle, WA, missionary Pavel Radchuk, with even greater zeal, continued the work that had already been started. Making Mission trips, one after another, founding churches in Chukotka, Kolima, Siberia and Ukraine, opening an orphanage, sending containers of clothing and food, giving financial help to pastors and missionaries, opening Bible Colleges in Seattle and Ukraine, sending the students out to new places to preach the gospel are some of the activities he was doing.
In his planner there was not one free day. If he was not with his family, he was on the road or serving people. He was needed by believers in Ukraine, Chukotka and Magadan, couples who wanted him to perform their marriages, and hundreds of missionaries on the field. People in Alaska also had invited him and were waiting to see him. And so he went.
The last time he traveled, he went into the air….but he did not make the landing. He moved straight into his heavenly mansion. The ultra-light plane, crash-landed. Pilot Peter Morozov and passenger Pavel Radchuk died.
The life and ministry of the fiery preacher, true missionary, brother, husband and father will forever remain in our memory and hearts. We people make miserable comforters, in the midst of tragedy, for his wife and seven young children. We will remember them in prayer, Svetlana and children: Sergei-12, David-11, Yuliya-10, Angela-9, Pavel-7, Daniel-5, Arthur-3. Svetlana is seven months pregnant. The baby will be born but without a father. We all need Pavel very much. May the Heavenly Father be the father of widows and orphans, and we, as biblical Christians remember the family of Pavel Radchuk. May the unexpected short life of a young minister inspire hundreds and thousands of young people to continue what was started, of spreading the gospel.
The life of a person is short and precious. The fight for the Faith continues. Spiritual victory will soon be behind us and Pavel believed this!
MEMORIES FROM HIS LAST DAYS ALIVE
By Russell Korets
On August 4th, 2002, Pavel Radchuk with his wife, 3 of his kids, and a group of 25 young people left to Alaska on a big bus, to hold crusades, youth services, and be at a youth camp. Lots of churches were praying for this trip, and we at Good Samaritan Ministries were excited about the opportunity to minister in Alaska.
While on the trip, a couple of things that Pavel did cannot be left untold. While driving, he stopped the bus, told all of the group to get outside, and with a stick, Pavel wrote in Ukrainian “I love Jesus.” Then, all of the group passed rocks, and with rocks, the group carved out “I love Jesus.” (While on the trip back, the group added to the writing: “Pavel Radchuk”)
As many of you know, Pavel loved and sacrificed his whole life to minister in Chukotka. While driving, he said, “Even if I would leave or disappear now, Chukotka is mostly well established. Churches have been started, the people are very devoted, and we even now have Chukchi people as missionaries, reaching out to other villages. It is well established.” We believe God had put a calling on his life for Chukotka, and Pavel finished what God had prepared for him to do.
Also, entering Alaska at the border, Pavel had problems with his passport. The immigration officer told Pavel that he shouldn’t fly out of the country anymore, until he becomes a citizen. Then, even though Pavel was going to become a citizen of the US in 3 months, Pavel said, “that means that my time to travel has come to an end.”
Pavel’s last sermon was about the death of Jacob. When he died, all of Egypt was crying. Other nations around them asked, “did your king or pharaoh died?” They said no, a man of God “Jacob” died. Pavel called people to devote their lives to God, and live for Him. Certainly, we have lost a Man of God, and today, we are weeping.
On Thursday, August 8th in the morning, we arrived in Alaska. We rested for a couple of hours, and then Pavel wanted to take the whole group to a native Indian village. But it was late in the day, so we went to the residence of Peter Morozov. On his property, he had lots of land, horses, and a man made plane. When we arrived, everyone went outside, while Pavel and his wife, Svetlana, stayed on the bus and rested. Peter Morozov, the owner, and a father of 16 kids, began to show us his plane, he got on it, and flew around. When he came down, he invited one brother from Spokane to take a ride with him. They both did. Afterwards, he gave a ride for another brother from Seattle. That’s when Pavel and his wife came outside. Coming out of the bus, he asked everyone to forgive him, if he did something bad to someone. When Pavel and his wife came to the field, Pavel began to look at the plane, and started to ask a lot of questions. The motor of the plane was from a snowmobile, and Pavel was very interested because a similar plane could have been made in Chukotka, to fly from village to village and proclaim the gospel. After asking a lot of questions, Pavel put on a helmet. His wife didn’t want to see Pavel flying, and she went inside the house. Pavel and Peter Morozov flew up into the air…
While in the air, something went wrong with the plane, and 150 feet in the air, the plane fell down. The group of young people watching ran up right away, pulled them out, and began to do CPR, but neither Pavel nor Peter Morozov had pulse. They did CPR for 20 minutes, the police and ambulance arrived, and right away told us that they will not live.
If you could just see the picture, the whole field was just crying, weeping…
Svetlana Radchuk did not see how the plane fell, but was told right away that the plane crashed. She was crying very much, and because she was 7 months pregnant, some sisters took her to the hospital, just to calm her down.
On Friday, August 9th, the body of Pavel Radchuk arrived in Seattle. Svetlana and the family flew from Alaska on a plane, and arrived on Saturday. The bus came back Sunday safely.
On Sunday, August 11th, there was a burial for the body of Peter Morozov. A wife and 16 kids were left behind.
On Sunday, August 18th, there was a memorial service for Pavel Radchuk, and on Monday, August 19th, there was a burial service. These services were visited by thousands of people, many flying in from different states and countries.
Pavel Radchuk left behind a wife who was pregnant and 7 kids (Sergey, David, Julia, Angela, Pavel, Daniel, Arthur). A month and a half later, the eight child in the family was born. His name is Andrey. Please continue to pray for this family.
Newspaper Articles Related to the Death of Pavel Radchuk
The Seattle Times
Saturday, August 24, 2002
Pavel Radchuk influenced many lives through church
By Scott McCredie
Seattle Times staff reporter
Pavel Radchuk, an associate pastor in the 2,600-member Slavic Gospel Church in Federal Way, was a prominent and well-liked spiritual leader.
“He was very kindly. All the people from young to older, they love him,” said his wife, Svetlana Radchuk, speaking through an interpreter. She added that sometimes he had difficulty leaving the church after a service because so many people wanted to chat.
But Mr. Radchuk’s influence extended far beyond his congregation, judging from the several thousand mourners who turned out for funeral services Sunday and Monday. He died in an airplane crash in Alaska on Aug. 8. He was 41.
As president of the Slavic International Association of Ministries Good Samaritan, Mr. Radchuk, who lived in Renton, was always looking for creative ways to bring food, clothing, Bibles and the word of God wherever he thought they were needed. Those places included his native Ukraine, Argentina, Germany and Chukotka, a remote part of northeastern Russia.
He seemed fearless in pursuit of his missionary work. On several occasions he became lost in Chukotka. Sometimes these ordeals lasted for days, in blizzard conditions, with temperatures far below zero.
It was while investigating a new form of transportation for traveling in Chukotka that Mr. Radchuk’s life ended.
He had led a busload of young people to Alaska on a crusading trip, arriving in Delta Junction, 86 miles southeast of Fairbanks. They were visiting friends, Peter Morozov and his wife, who had a large plot of land, horses and 16 children.
Morozov gave rides to members of the group in his two-person ultralight aircraft powered by a snowmobile engine. Mr. Radchuk peppered Morozov with questions about how a plane like this might assist in doing missionary work in Chukotka. Intrigued, Mr. Radchuk put on a helmet and strapped himself into the passenger seat.
But as the plane lofted into the sky, a wing suddenly collapsed, dropping the plane into a field and killing both men.
Mr. Radchuk was born in Zozov, in western Ukraine. His father was a Christian at a time when communists actively discouraged practicing religion. He taught his sons how to preach; the young Mr. Radchuk gave his first sermon at 12. Such was his zeal that, just before Christmas one year, he went into the town to sing carols, was arrested and spent two weeks in jail.
Mr. Radchuk emigrated to the United States in 1994.
After Mr. Radchuk’s death, the eldest of his seven children, Sergei, 12, tried to console his weeping mother.
“Don’t cry,” he said to her. “I will take care of all the family now.”
“The older children think he went to God, to sky,” his widow said. “They miss him. They love him very much.”
Mr. Radchuk’s other survivors include his sons David, 11, Pavel, 7, Daniel, 5, and Arthur Radchuk, 3; daughters, Angela, 9, and Yuliya Radchuk, 10, all of Renton; his father, Vitaliy Radchuk, and stepmother, Nataliya Radchuk, both of Auburn; brothers, Slavik, Vasiliy and Viktar Radchuk of Atlanta, and Peter and Yuriy Radchuk of Federal Way; and sisters, Ludmilla Rudnev and Tafyana Rimaruk of Kent.
Memorials may be made to the Pavel Radchuk family, P.O. Box 24026, Federal Way, WA 98023.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20020824&slug=pavelobit24m
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Slavic community mourns death of leader, pastor, friend
Thursday, August 15, 2002
By: David Eggert- SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
In Chukotka, a frigid region in northeastern Russia across from the Bering Straight, Pavel Radchuk was often stranded, lost and hungry.
Yet he visited there more than 20 times in the last decade.
Radchuk delivered 25 tons of Washington apples to the area’s indigenous peoples, who’d never seen or tasted the fruit. He ministered to them, hoping to reverse the severe problems of alcoholism and poverty.
But last Thursday, the people of Chukotka — and many in Seattle — lost their “man of God.”
Radchuk, president of the Federal Way-based Slavic International Association of Good Samaritan Ministries, was killed in a plane crash in Alaska. He was 41.
“Pavel would give everything he had to people,” said Russell Korets, a youth leader at Slavic Gospel Church in Federal Way. “He’s a man who would talk with anybody.”
Radchuk’s death has prompted hundreds of calls to the church, which housed his evangelistic and humanitarian group.
“It’s a shock for the whole Slavic community,” Korets said yesterday. “We’ve lost a great leader, organizer, pastor, missionary, brother, dad and friend.”
Radchuk was married and had seven children. His wife, Svetlana, is seven months pregnant with their eighth child.
On Aug. 4, the Radchuks, three of their children and 25 young adults left Federal Way for a two-week mission trip in Alaska. The group arrived on a bus last Thursday and visited a friend’s property in Delta Junction.
Piotr Morozov, 51, owned an ultralight, kit-built two-seat plane and took a few of the young adults on short flights.
Radchuk wondered if a similar plane could be made in Chukotka. Perhaps he could fly from village to village for mission work instead of taking a snowmobile through cold, hard conditions, Korets said.
Morozov took Radchuk up for a flight but while making a turn, the plane dropped to the ground.
“The wings just folded,” said Korets, who tried to perform CPR on Radchuk. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
Born into a deeply religious family in what is now Ukraine, Radchuk once was jailed for singing Christmas carols in the former Soviet Union. He, his father and his brothers distributed Bibles illegally amongst a network of “underground” churches.
In 1990, the Radchuk brothers founded the Good Samaritan Mission in Rivne, Ukraine. They immigrated to the United States in 1994 and brought the mission’s headquarters to Federal Way.
Family and friends yesterday remembered Radchuk as a humble, forgiving man who gave fiery sermons.
Mary Schaefer recalled visiting Chukotka with Radchuk, who established 20 Christian churches there. Radchuk loved the region because he had prayed for it when he was younger, hoping to reach out to its people.
“The people just loved him there,” Schaefer said. “I think he will be missed in the personal touches that he had with people. He would bless them with his words and encourage them. He was definitely a man of peace.”
Radchuk and Schaefer worked together to send apples to Chukotka. A woman in the Yakima area donated the apples, and youths from the Radchuks’ church picked them.
Radchuk regularly traveled to Ukraine, Alaska and Russia on mission trips. Thousands are expected to attend his funeral, Korets said.
Radchuk is survived by his wife; sons Sergey, 12; David, 11; Pavel, 7; Daniel, 5; Arthur, 4; daughters Julia, 10; Angela, 8; his father; five brothers; and two sisters.
Funeral services will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center in Burien. Burial services will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Slavic Gospel Church, 3405 B S. 336th St., Federal Way.
Memorials can be sent to P.O. Box 24026, Federal Way, WA 98023
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/82711_radchuk15.shtml
Anchorage Daily News (Archives)
Ultralight plane crash kills two near Delta
SHOCKING: Father of 16 and passenger die; witness says the wings collapsed.
By Katie Pesznecker – Anchorage Daily News
(Published: August 10, 2002)
A father of 16 children died Thursday evening when the plane he was piloting plummeted from the sky and crashed into his own property in Delta Junction.
Piotr Morozov, 51, and his passenger, Pavel Vital’yevich Radchuk, 41, of Renton, Wash., were pronounced dead where the ultralight plane dropped on land cleared of trees. Morozov used the field as a runway.
The plane crashed in plain view of the Morozov home on Phillips Road, where family members and roughly 30 visiting teenagers and adults from a church camp looked on. Witnesses said the plane just dropped from the sky.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
Morozov’s death stunned many in Delta Junction, an Interior farming town about 95 miles southwest of Fairbanks. Its swelling Russian and Ukrainian population of more than 700 people makes up about 20 percent of the area’s 3,500 residents.
Most of the Russians and Ukrainians are Pentecostals, religious refugees, said Pete Hallgren, the city administrator.
“The climate here’s not totally different from what they’re used to, land is inexpensive and there’s farming here,” Hallgren said. “They also tend to have large families and like to live together.”
The Morozovs were among the first Russians to settle in Delta Junction, arriving in 1993, friends said Friday. Piotr and his wife, Valentina, had 16 children, ranging in age from 6 to nearly 30. Morozov was a janitor in the town grocery store.
Friends described him as generous — a devout traditionalist who home-schooled his children. Morozov hosted Sunday afternoon services in his living room, where several dozen people would crowd on benches to sing and pray.
“He was always nice, and a lot of people know him,” said Larisa Berezyuk, 22, a family friend. “He liked to take people out and show them Alaska and the wilderness.”
That’s what Morozov was doing Thursday, shuttling people on flightseeing tours around his property.
Alaska State Troopers said the ultralight was a two-seater, which means its operation falls under tougher federal regulations than a single-seater. A nonlicensed pilot can fly an ultralight with one seat while two-seaters must be flown by licensed pilots. It was not clear Friday if Morozov had a pilot’s license.
Irina Kulikovskiy, a family friend, said a group of about 30 visitors from a youth church camp had gathered at Morozov’s place on Phillips Road. Morozov took the plane up three times, each flight with a different passenger, Kulikovskiy said.
Then Radchuk boarded. Someone was videotaping, said Kulikovskiy, who wasn’t there but later watched the tape.
“They were flying around and then one of the wings of the ultralight just collapsed and they just came down,” said Kulikovskiy, 17, who works in the Family Medical Center with one of Morozov’s daughters.
Kulikovskiy said Radchuk was the father of seven children. His wife, Sveltlana, who is pregnant, was in the Morozov home during the crash, Kulikovskiy said.
Troopers estimated the plane was about 150 feet in the air when it crashed.
People on scene called 911. Town medics were performing CPR when troopers arrived at 7:14 p.m. The two men were pronounced dead two minutes later.
Officials from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board did not request autopsies. The bodies were released to the families.
FAA officials did not release any potential causes of the crash Friday. Officials said alcohol was not a factor and there was no evidence of foul play.
Reporter Katie Pesznecker can be reached at kpesznecker@adn.com.
Soon after Pavel’s death, many friends and co-workers sent their sympathy letters and shared special memories to the family. Allow us to share a few:
E-mail from Mary Schaefer
Aug 10, 2002
He was the president of our Slavic International Association of Ministries “Good Samaritan”.This mission was started in Rovno, Ukraine, 12 years ago and eight years ago moved its headquarters to the Seattle area when the Radchuks immigrated. It is an evangelistic and humanitarian organization which plants churches and meets human needs all over the Former Soviet Union.
We started the first Protestant churches in Chukotka and have a strong church in Magadan. Every summer since 1998, slavic youth from our mission in America have gone to Magadan and Chukotka to hold children’s camps.
Pavel loved and was beloved by thousands of people around the world but the passion of his heart, besides his own seven children, was for the indigenous populations of the Russian Far East, from the Ural Mts. to the Chukchi Peninsula. He saw first hand how the Gospel of Christ changed the lives of Chukchi, Eskimos and Evenk by lifting them out of bondage to alcohol and other destructive behavior patterns. He firmly believed that this was the way to reverse the problem of extinction of the small ethnic nations.
His humility and forgiving attitude was a hallmark of his Christian life. He could preach to crowds with a fiery spirit that would cause people to seek God but he was just as happy visiting a poor Chukchi family in a “yaranga” of skins or traveling the rivers of the North. He many times faced death in Chukotka, being stranded without food for days on the rivers, hands, face and feet frostbitten, being lost during snowstorms on the ice in a snowcat and dealing with problems of frozen gasoline of a snowmobile and disorientation on the tundra. All of these efforts were made because small villages, where groups of believers gathered, waited to be encouraged by him.
He was our joy and inspiration. He had vision that never quit. God used him in a mighty way, working with many different denominations and people, to be a blessing. Americans loved him as much as his fellow Ukrainians. To us he was almost larger than life and we are struggling to understand how he was taken so suddenly, only knowing God is Sovereign and His purposes are eternal.
Mary Schaefer
American Correspondence
Board Member
Missionary
E-mail from Richard & Sara Michalski
Paul the Apostle said, “For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers:” I Corinthians 4:15.
Paul Radchuk, like the apostle Paul was a ‘father in the Faith’; a planter of churches, especially in the remote areas of the Far East; a visionary in missions, impassioned for the lost and down trodden. Our prayers go out to Svetlana, the seven children and the expectant one as well as to all of Pavel’s family. I know in a small way what it means to lose a father, fellow minister and best friend, as I lost my father 15 years ago in an accident.There was no time to say goodbye, nor a warning of prolonged sickness. One day they were standing strong among us, the next seconds they were standing before the throne of God. I know Christians don’t mourn the way the world mourns because we have an eternal hope of reunion in heaven, but we hurt deeply at your loss and ours in a pain only the Holy Spirit can heal in time by pouring His comforting, rich oil of consolation deep into the cracks of our soul. May the God of comfort begin to heal your hearts as we look to Jesus the Healer of broken hearts.
We weep with those who weep. “…concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God raise again” I Thess. 4:13-14.
Our prayers continue for the entire family and we extend our sympathy to all the bereaved. May God comfort, strengthen and give you His Peace during this time of grief.
Your fellow brother, and laborer in Christ,
Richard & Sara Michalski
Impact Ministries