"Cyborg": The army must definitely have chaplains from the UOC

Sergey Beloshitsky. Photo: news.church.ua

The commander of the second platoon of the first company of the 90th separate airborne assault battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which fought in the Donetsk airport in 2014, "cyborg" Sergey Beloshitskiy advocates the provision of spiritual guidance by chaplains of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and calls attempts to prohibit this through adopting the bill No. 4626 violation of the Constitution. He said this during an online meeting with the head of the public union "Miriane" Vasily Makarovsky.

He said that he regularly attends divine services in the church of the UOC in Zhytomyr and meets active servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “I see a lot of guys coming to church in uniform, who are believers of our Church. I know many of them and we are friends. Therefore, there must be chaplaincy from our Church,” said the “cyborg”.

He also believes that the ban on chaplains of the UOC violates the Constitution of Ukraine, which guarantees freedom of religion for all citizens, including military personnel. “If they prohibit our Church in the army, but only allow other religious organizations, let them change the name of other churches and make them state structures within the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Otherwise, it is a direct violation of the Constitution. Everyone has the right to their faith," Beloshitskiy summed up.

As reported by the UOJ, the "Miriane" explained that their bill would allow the UOC to take spiritual care of the faithful in the army.

Read also