Chaplain: we are to raise a generation of warriors for Ukraine to remain on the global map

Fr. Andriy Zelinsky, the only official chaplain in the country who has passed through the obstacle course and received a Blue beret, believes that it's time not only to prepare defenders of the country, but also to form the value basis ​​of the Armed Forces for the training of service people, - a warrior ethos, which will help them also after demobilization to fight for their dreams, overcome life obstacles, develop own business and build new Ukraine.

Fr Andriy said this in an interview for Censor.NET.

Fr Andriy Zelinsky has been a military chaplain since 2006. He worked first as a volunteer. He joined the young priests who initiated the chaplaincy service at the Academy of Ground Forces named after Hetman Petro Sahaidachny in Lviv. Together with other clergymen, he, as he said, “raised the virgin land in the realm of forming a model of systemic maintenance of spiritual needs of servicemen.” Many of the graduates of the Lviv Military Academy became the young officers who, in the offices of platoon and troops commanders, were the first to face the armed aggression – the first heroes and the first deceased warriors. Many of them he knew well in person, he met many of them in the area of ​​hostilities.

From last year, the institute of military chaplaincy was formed in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“I was always interested in the values ​​on the basis of which the entire warrior cultures were formed in Sparta and in feudal Europe, in medieval Japan and in Zaporizhska Sich,” said Father Andriy. “After all, the code of military honor, warrior ethos is an extremely powerful mechanism for ensuring the effectiveness of the troops and protecting the mental health and spiritual well-being of individual soldiers.

Unfortunately, in the contemporary Armed Forces, all ideological work is based exclusively on national patriotic education. Thank God, what happened at last: the formation of ethnic self-awareness of Ukrainian soldiers is necessary, inevitable, but still, I believe, this is not enough. It is about a system of beliefs that requires a well-developed personality. And the personality is known to be formed by values.

A hearing in the US Senate of the current head of the Pentagon James N. Mattis before his appointment is indicative. When asked by one of the Senators about his personal perception of warrior ethos, the general replied that “warrior ethos is not luxury, but the very essence of the troops.” The head of the Pentagon is aware of this! On this basis, the system of ideological work in the US Army is also being developed. These are proven centuries-old mechanisms to protect the spirit of a warrior and a combat unit, which helps to form a stable identity, to protect and prevent the development of PTSD, to educate citizens of proper level.”

The priest outlined the mission of the military chaplain, “Our mission is to be close to the fighting for the spirit of the Ukrainian warrior, for his humanity, capable of an amazing level of courage and self-sacrifice.”

According to him, the Armed Forces of Ukraine should again become a school of life, since it's here that the personality is formed and the will is tempered.