Metropolitan Alexander (Drabinko) prays for peace with Korchinskiy’s battalion

14 October, on the feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Virgin, the Day of Defender of Ukraine is also celebrated. Traditionally, on this day the Memorial Fund of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir does something for the military, reports the Fund page.

October 13, 2016 the Fund's confessor Metropolitan Alexander of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Vishnevsky visited a base of special purpose police regiment "Kiev". This new unit, which included all volunteer special purpose battalions of GD MIA of Ukraine in Kiev: "Kiev-1", "Kiev-2", "Golden Gate", "Sich" and "Holy Mary".

The Fund’s confessor celebrated a prayer service followed by a prayer for peace in Ukraine. After that the bishop congratulated those present on the Day of the Defender of Ukraine, wished God's help in performing the service and gave each military man "A Warrior’s Book of Prayer" and then talked to the division leadership.

Last year, Metropolitan Alexander gave the icon of St. George to the Ukrainian soldiers in the ATO zone.

As previously reported by the media, the soldiers of the battalion "Holy Mary" took part in the attack on the TV channel Inter. The battalion was established on the initiative of Dmitry Korchinskiy, a leader of the "Brotherhood" party, known for his radicalism. Korchinskiy believes that it is necessary "to protect the interests of Jesus Christ using methods of the Islamic Revolution." He calls himself "ultra-radical centrist" and is a parishioner of the Kiev Patriarchate.

Read also

Archbishop Simeon speaks about situation surrounding Sinai Monastery

The new abbot of the Sinai monastery hopes the issue of recognition by the Egyptian authorities will be resolved soon.

UOC files complaint over arbitrariness in Kuzmyn church seizure – lawyer

Following the forcible seizure of the UOC Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the Khmelnytskyi region, a crime report has been filed and court actions have been launched.

Armenian Church hierarch moved from pretrial detention to house arrest

Yerevan’s Court of Appeal granted the defense motion for Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan.

In Baturyn, armed police "guard" convent from nuns and parishioners

Sisters of the St. Nicholas Krupytsky Convent of the UOC and local believers have been denied entry to the monastery grounds for hours, which has been turned into a restricted facility.

UOC's foreign mission reports manipulations around its activities

The Western European Vicariate emphasized that UOC parishes abroad operate independently and were created for the spiritual care of the Ukrainian diaspora.

Clergy meeting of Western European Vicariate of UOC held in Italy

The annual gathering of clergy of the Vicariate took place in the city of Bari under the chairmanship of Bishop Veniamin.