TRC officials forcibly conscripted a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Khmelnytskyi region

In the Khmelnytskyi region, officers of the Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC) detained Archpriest Vladimir Sereda, rector of the Church of St. John the Theologian in the village of Korchevka. The priest was forcibly taken to Teofipol to undergo a military medical examination. This was reported by the press service of the Khmelnytskyi Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Archpriest Vladimir Sereda is the father of five children and cares for his elderly blind grandmother. The Khmelnytskyi Diocese emphasizes that military service is incompatible with priestly ministry according to the canonical law of the Orthodox Church. The diocese’s statement notes that a cleric who combines the priesthood with military service is subject to defrocking under Rule 83 of the Holy Apostles. Furthermore, the 7th canon of the Fourth Ecumenical Council prohibits a priest from bearing arms, and the canons of Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa stipulate that murder, even in self-defense, results in excommunication from the ministry.

It should be recalled that an incident recently occurred in Odessa involving the detention and subsequent mobilization by TRC personnel of Protodeacon Nikolai Mazurts, a cleric of the Trinity Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). Despite confirmed medical contraindications, the clergyman was deemed fit for military service and sent to the area where military units are stationed.