- Father, you have just returned from the ATO zone. Would you tell us, where have you been and what have you delivered to chaplains?
- I may not give any exact coordinates, but I was in Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions. I visited our chaplains, now there are only 10 of them working in the ATO zone. Total 12 chaplains have already visited them because we’ve made two rotations.
- Do you change them regularly?
- Yes, they go there for a month, but some of them have remained and have been staying already for four months. Other chaplains also went there without a time limit, but I think that they will remain there till the end. I would like that everything was over as soon as possible, but the situation is constantly changing and if it continues, we will have to change them. The servants shall be morally and physically prepared for such conditions. Their work is not heavier than that of the military, but the priests get exhausted, because they have to perform a particularly difficult service.
- Have the military got used that they have a Chaplain?
- I cannot say that 100% of the military servicemen have a chaplain. There are only 10 chaplains of the UGCC, but I’d say it’s too little. We constantly got calls from the commanders and their deputies, asking to send priests. We work hard to find these brave servants that meet the requirements and can work there. Also, it is desirable that they had already served in the army. We have a few of such priests, but they will follow on rotation. The month comes to an end and they need to be changed by someone, and we always get new requests. Therefore, it is necessary that different religious confessions were present there, and the aid came from different churches.
-Have you seen chaplains from other denominations?
- I had seen only one, and he previously served in the UOC-MP, and now signed a contract and became a military. He is a former officer and decided to return to the army. I spoke with him and he was the only one whom I met on this trip.
Here the issues of competition between the faiths just vanish. Speculating such things I ridiculous here, on the contrary it should be ensured that everyone could help the army. But we need those ministers who are able and willing to work in a multi-religious tolerant environment. The Ministry of Defense or the National Guard shall carefully select those priests, as they shall not be directed there if they are not mentally prepared. It is never an issue of religious affiliation, the men will not ask whom you belong to, for them it does not matter. The main thing is that the chaplain is near.
There were times when I was contacted by the commander and he said that his boys went forward again to a combat mission. They had already seen death, it was difficult to leave and so they wanted to come to their priest. The commander asked an Orthodox minister, but he was not available and so we went to the soldiers. As we arrived it turned out to be a unit from Lviv, and there were many Greek Catholics. So we started talking to them and it became clear that for them it was not important. You just have to be with them and be for them. We must listen, because sometimes they ask questions that do not refer to us.
- Like what?
- In the beginning there were many questions about equipment, after the mass destruction of the soldiers in the first period. We were asked about ammunition, machines, they asked "what are we sent with". But we could not answer them, we are not competent in that. We had just to listen to them and gradually opened the spiritual world for them. Very often there are soldiers who never talked to a priest, did not go to church and ere only baptized in infancy. About what denomination can we speak if they have never been to a church? And a fighter came in and asked, I’ve got a wart ... it turned out that this was not an issue, and he suffered a global internal conflict and it had to formulate it.
- But can we say that they got used to the very presence of chaplains?
- They really do not want them to go. The soldiers got used to them so that when we need to make rotation, they answer: we won’t give you the priest. And we had the servants who remained there because they were very much needed.
- What is the mission of a chaplain today? Perhaps, in addition to daily services.
- The services matter. Sometimes they are performed when there is nobody there, everybody is on a mission. The chaplain prays for peace, for every soldier. He holds in his heart everyone he saw or blessed and those who perform their duties. There are officers who come every day at 6:30 for the morning service and hold it dear. There are no rules, no established daily routine or schedule. Except that with large staffs can plan your day or make a rough schedule. And here everything is very alive, very real.
Once the boys arrived after the battle and immediately asked to serve for the dead friends, and they respect the notion of friendship as no one. This is the only profession that is so strongly tied to friendship. And it I referred to only the armed forces, the army itself. These are the people who will never leave a comrade on the battlefield. They will take him from there at any cost. And then they come and ask friends to pray for the deceased friends, they are much worried about that. They get some doubt after that, therefore it is necessary both to serve and to communicate with them.
Or once it happens that in the night the father is sleeping, and he is sought for in the tents by other fighters who have heard that there is a priest. They come and say, "We leave now, bless us with holy water." The priest came and prayed, blessed them and did not sleep till morning, prayed for them to come back happily. Everything develop in a very chaotic way something changes, every second. It happens so that chaplains get ambushed when the fire starts. Sometimes they do not know where to lean for a prayer.
- It's very dangerous ...
- Yes. But we know that the checkpoints get fired and they are not always allowed there. Maybe it's a security issue, but the priests are trying to get there. This cannot be explained, I also cannot justify the desire to go there again. I am only two days back and I already want to go there. You go and hear that someone was fired there and you cannot help, but just have to be there. Our priests want to go where they are needed. The worst torture is when the militants are gone, and you have to sit and wait for them. The same case was in Kosovo, on the peacekeeping mission, when the priest had to sit all day and wait for the military.
- What are the current forms of access of a chaplain in the ATO zone? Is he assigned to some specific military units? How is the minister admitted there for the first time?
- We agree. In fact we write a letter to the General Staff, but this applies only to the armed forces. We write a letter, get the answer and permission to enter. However, we point out places where a particular priest has to go, where there is a need and which the commander made a request. We have a list of available priests. It is amazing how this happens. As soon as there is a request for a chaplain, as soon as one calls, on the same day or right at the moment a required priest appears. He give consent and in a week he travels to them.
- What about the legalization of chaplains? The Cabinet initiated consideration of the law on this institution at the Defense Ministry, but the issue remain unresolved.
- I am not an official and I find it difficult to understand these bureaucratic procedures. It is important that those officials, who have the opportunity to introduce chaplaincy, depend on the signatures of the older generation. And they do not understand that this is a matter not for tomorrow, it was to be done by yesterday. The chaplaincy is needed by the military, those young men aged 18, 20, 25. They want to have a priest nearby, they cannot imagine the military service without it. And the ministers are always with them. Therefore, the rejection of these people evokes my sympathy. Perhaps this officer had atheistic upbringing and suffers from specific fears. Unfortunately, today there are many such people.
- So they just slow down the process of decision making through personal misunderstanding?
- Yes. I know a lot of generals who are very tolerant and open. And if it was not for them we would have nothing now, we would not have given those 10 priests. There are very responsible people who help us. However, on-site a commander of a squad to which we have sent a minister might call us and ask us not to send a Greek Catholic. What kind of an explanation it is if there was our priest and there were turns to him? There are such commanders one cannot say what they are guided by.
- The human factor rules…
- Yes. And I will never ignore this. God grant all this ends the soonest and I will indicate specific names; I do not want to tell them right now. Because it is not the responsibility of an individual. You take care of yourself and the soldiers directly say that they need a priest. If you do not want, these are your problems, but never stay in the way, especially in the matters of life and death.
- How do you assess the morale of the troops?
- They are very morally strong. At the beginning of the fight it was a different matter. Now the men are very different, they found the incredible strength and mobilized themselves. But what they were going into battle with at the beginning, I just wonder why they were going there at all.
- Bare in fact ...
- Naked, barefoot. But now they notice what is happening. They are highly moral people. The first time I took a priest in the ATO zone, I was also transporting people from Kharkiv. Along the way they said that here comes Ukrainian army and God knows what they will do with the people, with their supposedly low culture. And I get to the checkpoint, and a paratrooper who was standing there, just kisses the hand of a woman who said it. I do not know why he did it, whether he heard our conversation, he just said hello. She then said that she could not imagine what these boys are like. I said it then that our entire army I like that, our Ukrainian army.
Another example. In a hospital of Kyiv I visited once a wounded guy. It is not clear whether he will ever walk again, but a paratrooper flag was hanging in the ward under which he had fought. The mother was looking at the flag with pain, not understanding how a child can sacrifice himself to the end, she did not understand heroism. But I was standing beside and wondering how a woman could bring up a brave patriot like this. She was not simply aware of that. He could end his life as an invalid, but would always keep a flag for himself.
Very many officials of a sufficiently high rank from the Defense Ministry do not have such patriotism at all. But if we show these examples of heroism, if we speak about them, a day won’t be enough. We need to do away with the past and this is the first step in our struggle for a new society. It is as if we all were born anew. We have what we have, but we go forward, we become better. And there are examples of strong, good people, on which we will educate our children, about whom we will preach in churches. Today's courage and patriotism are the foundation of our future and it is laid out now. Undoubtedly, it is very painful, but it is the foundation of our new, courageous and sincere country.