Primate: UOC chaplains have to serve under pressure

The Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, and the head of the UOC Department for Cooperation with the AFU, Metropolitan Augustine. Photo: church.ua

The clerics of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who provide spiritual care to soldiers and residents of front-line regions, perform their ministry today in conditions of extremely limited possibilities and all-sided pressure. This was stated in the address of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine to participants of the annual meeting of the military clergy of the UOC.

"Unfortunately, we have to admit that today the priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who have the obedience of spiritual and pastoral care of servicemen and law enforcement officers are extremely limited in their ability to properly perform pastoral duties both in the rear and at the front," Metropolitan noted.

According to him, "obviously, this situation will not change in the near future”.

His Beatitude drew attention to the fact that because of the malevolent rhetoric in the media and illegal actions of some authorities against the clergy and believers of the UOC "clerics who continue to take care of the military flock have to bear the cross of their ministry under moral and legal pressure".

"Today our Holy Church is undergoing the hardest trials, but the clergy continue to carry the word of Christ to places where blood is shed, where tears and despair overwhelm hearts, where Ukrainian soldiers courageously and selflessly perform their sacrificial service – to the war zone," said Metropolitan Onuphry.

He expressed gratitude to the pastors of the Church, "who in the current time of national distress caused by the military aggression of the Russian Federation, perform spiritual and pastoral care for our faithful in the Armed Forces and other military formations of Ukraine".

"Our pastors help the destitute inhabitants of the devastated settlements of the Donbas, Kharkiv and the South of Ukraine with prayer and daily bread, bringing to life the evangelical example of the merciful Samaritan. The clergy of our Church take care of the wounded soldiers in hospitals, providing medicines for the recovery of the body and medicines for the salvation of the soul. I sincerely thank all the fathers who set an example of true pastorship, tirelessly serving and working for the sake of victory and longed-for peace," said the First Hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

As reported, as part of the UOC “Mission of Mercy” project, priests of the Kyiv Eparchy delivered humanitarian aid to the most war-affected areas of Donetsk and Kharkiv regions for local residents and military personnel of the AFU.

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