Family Appeals After Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priest Is Sent to Military Training Center

MUKACHEVO, UKRAINE — Fr. Andrii Stebivka, a priest of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo, was detained by Ukrainian military recruitment officers on October 12 and transferred to a military training center, where he could be deployed to the front lines in the war against Russia, according to his family.

The 38-year-old priest was stopped at a checkpoint in the Rivne region of northwestern Ukraine while returning from a spiritual retreat. Ordained in June 2024 at the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Fr. Andrii had recently been reassigned to another parish.

The transfer reportedly caused administrative delays that temporarily left his pastoral service unrecorded in the state registry used to certify the ministry of clergy. Despite repeated attempts to provide documentation confirming his active priestly status, recruitment authorities rejected the papers, his parents, Bohdan and Natalia Stebivka, said.

According to the family, Fr. Andrii has since been assigned to a special assault unit and is expected to enter combat in the near future. Bp. Teodor Matsapula of the Eparchy of Mukachevo and the apostolic embassy in Ukraine have contacted government authorities in an effort to clarify the priest’s status and secure his return to parish ministry. The family said their requests have so far received no response.

In addition to his pastoral work, Fr. Andrii is an iconographer who has created sacred compositions and apse murals for churches in Dublin, Boston, and several Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Rivne, and Uzhhorod. His parents have appealed publicly to civil, military, and diplomatic authorities to recognize his priestly vocation and allow him to resume his ministry in Mukachevo.

Previously, the UOJ reported that Ukrainian recruitment officers detained a UOC priest with a heart condition.