To become a military chaplain, a clergyman must leave the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate).
This was announced by the head of the State Service for Ethnopolicies and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelenskyi, who spoke on the air of the national telethon, Ukranian Pravda reports.
“(Being a military chaplain – ed.) as part of the Moscow Patriarchate is impossible by law. I know several military chaplains who once served in the Moscow Patriarchate. But in order to become a military chaplain, they must leave the Moscow Patriarchate.”
In his opinion, the Ukrainian Army lacks chaplains. According to the official, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff want these people to acquire the necessary skills: to be able to “at least discharge a weapon, launch an armored personnel carrier,” and have tactical medical knowledge.
At the same time, as Yelensky noted, the chaplain is not a combatant.
