As we reported earlier, as of August 31, 2024, the majority of those killed in the Russian-Ukrainian war were clergy and religious leaders who belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The number of UOC clergy killed is three times higher than the same figure for the OCU, followed by representatives of the Evangelical Christians.
“No priest of the UOC is a chaplain in the Armed Forces” - State Ethnic Policy
The head of the Department for Religious Affairs of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, Vyacheslav Gorshkov, said that no priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is a current chaplain in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The official added that this situation has arisen because of the laws that prohibit UOC priests from serving as chaplains in the Armed Forces. Horshkov’s words were reported by Ukrinform.
“We have a current law, the so-called law on renaming. There is one point in this law that no rights of the UOC — the one that is considered to be in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate — are restricted, except that it is impossible to be a chaplain from this church. Therefore, the clergy of this church did not receive any (such — ed.) mandate, according to this law. We are a state body, an executive body, so if there is a law, we must follow it,” — Horshkov said.
Read also
