On the Memorial Day of St. Andrew the First-Called, December 13, in occupied Sevastopol, archpriest Sergiy Khalyuta, the chief clergyman of the Sevastopol Deanery of the Crimean Diocese of the UOC-MP, together with a group of priests, consecrated battle banners for the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.
This is reported by "Religion in Ukraine" with a link to the deanery's website.
The consecration of St. Andrew's flags of warships and auxiliary vessels in Sevastopol has been carried out since 1997. This time, in St Volodymyr Cathedral, which is the Tomb of admirals, archpriest Sergiy Khalyuta, dean of the Sevastopol District of the UOC-MP, concelebrated by the clergy of the cathedral and priests who are pastoral in the occupation military fleet, performed a prayer service to St. Andrew the First-Called, which was attended by commanders and military personnel of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.
At the end of the prayer service, 46 St. Andrew's flags were consecrated and solemnly handed over to the ship commanders.
Addressing the audience, archpriest Sergiy Khalyuta called the day of remembrance of the Apostle Andrew the first-called "special for every Russian sailor."
"We prayed only for one thing – that the Lord would save your lives, but at the same time give courage and love to your hearts. We prayed for peace today, even though we were consecrating banners prepared for battle. We prayed that the Lord would keep peace in your hearts and in our country. But if the enemy comes and crosses our border, we asked God to give you a brave and courageous heart, so that the regiments of enemies and foes would retreat from the borders of our state. Our people are Christ-loving, they love God, their neighbor and their homeland," the Sevastopol dean of the UOC-MP said, wishing the occupation soldiers "to be faithful to God, the people of God and their fatherland."