While more than 1.3 million women and children have already sought sanctuary outside of Ukraine, they leave behind the men who will be forced to join the military effort against Russia.
Men in their teens are buying guns and preparing to shoot them for the first time at Russian troops, while overseas residents are giving up their safety to head straight to the heart of the warzone.
As Sunday dawned and the hymns rang out, Ukrainians prayed for better days and leant on their faith, relying on something bigger to help carry the unbearable weight of war.
Soldiers stood among the parishioners with their future comrades in plain clothes beside them.
Rustak Slovolenek, 22, is one of those and is preparing for the inevitable call to join them.
"I want to get lessons and to get a gun because I want to be protected," he says.
As one of the millions of Ukrainian men forced to stay and fight, he has to be. They're barred from leaving the country, but most men there wouldn't leave, even if they could.
Another Ukrainian, Yurko Nazarook, doesn't know when his call to arms will come, but he's prepared to fight.
"No, I will not go from my country. This is my home, I want to fight," he says.
While he waits, he's designing T-shirts and selling them, with profits destined for the army. It's the only thing he knows to be right in a world where everything else feels so wrong.
"You can't believe that in the 21st century that people are coming in with these f**king metal machines and fighting with the civilians," Nazarook says.
In Ukraine, it is civilians who will help power the fight back and newly-recruited troops patrol the streets.
It is mostly one-way traffic out of the country, but the brave and the loyal continue to trickle in.
Pierre François' mother is Ukrainian, so from France he came and he plans to go to Kyiv.
"I have to be there, I have to do something, so my first reflex was, 'Okay, I leave tomorrow'," he says.
The men in Ukraine who are already serving their country won't talk, partly because they are so focussed on the job at hand, but mostly because they are ruled by suspicion. They fear any information they give out will ultimately end up in the hands of the Russians.
They are careful and vigilant, but Ukrainians will not be intimidated by their invaders.
All over Lviv, the same billboards are appearing with a message for the Russians and their leader, President Vladimir Putin.
Slovolenek says the Ukrainian sign translates to "Go f**k yourself Putin", which he says with a laugh.
At a time of great sorrow, the laughter alleviates the hurt, even if just for a moment. Slovolenek hopes the war is over soon.
It is hope that is only matched by the unfaltering Ukrainian faith, which on the second Sunday of this war saw them gather in their droves to bow their heads and pray for peace and each other.
