Patriarch Filaret: There is no Ukrainian state without an army

Patriarch Filaret believes that all Ukrainian leaders should first take care of our army, because it is the guarantor of independence.

The hierarch was reported as saying this on December 4 at the opening ceremony of the memorial stele “Defender of Homeland” in the National University of Defense of Ukraine.

“Until now, our army had no enemy. That’s why state has not paid enough attention to the army. Just like in the 20's of the last century MykhailoHrushevskyi paid attention to the army. Therefore, when the army of Muravyov marched to Kyiv, there was no one to defend our country. Therefore, students gave their lives for Ukraine. Now we have similar situation, the government had neglected the army, but realized that it was wrong. Now the army comes first. If there is no army there will be no Ukrainian state. All the state leaders should know that,” he said

“The army is strong not so much with arms as with spirit, because the spirit always wins,” said the Patriarch.

The memorial stele “Defender of Homeland” dedicated to the heroes of our day - soldiers and sergeants, officers and generals - all those who today protect our Ukraine with arms and those who heroically for it died in the war of 2014. Attending the opening were: Minister of Defense of Ukraine Colonel Stephen Poltorak, leaders of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, representatives of local and regional authorities, of veterans’ and civic organizations, scholars, educators and university students, reports the UOC-KPofficial website.