"Represented by Putin, Russia strives to infuse a virus of fear into Ukrainian society, but there should be no fear," - Metropolitan Epifaniy
"Ukrainians have been at war for more than 7 years. And now we see that the Russian Federation, embodied by President Putin, is trying to infuse this virus of fear into Ukrainian society. The virus of fear destroys from inside. When a person is scared, when they are in a state of panic, they are prone to manipulations and especially to information manipulation. And we, as the Church, urge you not to be afraid.
If we managed to preserve the unity of Ukraine in 2014, when we practically did not have a powerful army, now we have a powerful Ukrainian army, which is evaluated by international experts as one of the best and most combat-ready armies in Europe. Of course, we pin our hope primarily on God, but we will also defend our God-given Ukrainian land to the end. This is our land. We don't show aggression. We want to be masters in our home. And so there should be no fear, especially at this time. This is only done for escalation purposes. And now we see what? When we are united, when the entire free world agrees with us, the aggressor begins to retreat. And if he does think something bad about Ukraine, I think that we will eventually defeat this aggression," the head of the OCU stressed.
At the same time, Metropolitan Epifaniy expressed regret that during the 7 years of the undeclared Russian-Ukrainian war, there is still no law on military chaplaincy.
"We cannot achieve this, but now the draft law on military chaplaincy registered in the Verkhovna Rada is almost at the exit. I am convinced that there will be votes, it will be adopted because it is very important.
Now, when we are fighting on an invisible front with a disease, the issue of introducing medical chaplaincy has also become quite relevant. We have been implementing it for several years. But now the state is listening, and the Ministry of Health is also contributing to this. I think that in the future, a corresponding bill will also be developed, probably, so that this chaplaincy is on a permanent basis," the head of the OCU said.
