The names of three Orthodox priests who died in the NVO are named

Tatyana is a rare specialist in Russia who has defended her dissertation on legal regulation and the status of army chaplains. “For me, this is a very close topic, since, on the one hand, I come from a military family, and on the other, there are priests in our family. And now, in this difficult time, we all understand how important the issue of spiritual guidance in the army is and what kind of people should be involved in this.

At the end of last week, a video was circulated on the Internet, where allegedly a priest of the Moscow Patriarchate in festive Easter attire fires from a grenade launcher, explaining to the camera that he is fighting NATO. “Let’s get down, father,” shouts a voice-over, and he, picking up his cassock, runs away.

– Tatyana Mikhailovna, how to understand if this is a fake or not?

– This video has already been disassembled and came to the conclusion that it is psychologically unreliable. Anyone can put on whatever they want and pretend to be from the Moscow Theological Academy, like here. But in this case, it seems to me that the authors went too far with special effects. This man does not look like a priest, even outwardly. Our military priests often have short hair and short beards. So the fields are more hygienic.

It is implausible that the priest is standing in a phelonion (a red cape on his shoulders). This is a part of liturgical vestments, which is never used in the fields due to the fact that priests usually take only the necessary minimum of liturgical things with them to the combat zone. And if these are not exercises, then they don’t even put on a cassock, but go in ordinary military uniform so as not to attract undue attention. And here he is fully dressed, so that everyone immediately understands who he is, so I don’t believe it.

– But most importantly, the priest has no right to take up arms and even more so to use them. And not knowing this, substituting your church, and even on camera for recording, it seems to me, is stupid.

– Having shed blood, a clergyman has no right to continue serving as a priest, this is true. Military clergy have a special status, which is prescribed by international legal documents.

– Are there those who doubt the need for the presence of priests in wars? And in general in the very institute of the military priesthood?

– In fact, there are very tough discussions about whether such an institution should exist in a secular society. After all, our Constitution clearly states that the church is separated from the state.

Disputes are sometimes even aggressive, in our work we analyzed the experience of thirty foreign countries, mainly the so-called collective West – Europe, the USA, Australia, up to the Philippine Islands, where the concept of military chaplaincy is generally enshrined in the Basic Law. It turned out that this institution has a long history and all this is very tightly regulated by law. Regarding the legal mechanism at the level of international and national constitutional legal systems, freedom of religion is guaranteed to any citizen, therefore the institution of military chaplaincy just acts as a legal mechanism for the implementation of freedom of religion in the armed forces, especially since we are talking about significant human masses of military personnel.

— To whom do military chaplains usually report? profile ministries?

– Military chaplains have an ambivalent, dual subordination. The fusion of the institution of military chaplains and the armed forces does not occur for the reason that the clergyman does not obey the commander and does not report to him on the work carried out with the personnel. He is accountable only in terms of the statutory service and daily routine. In all other respects, the priest is obliged to obey his church hierarchy.

Although in some countries, for example, in the USA, military chaplains are even given officer ranks. In the Russian Federation, this is a purely civilian institution, priests are not military personnel and are not liable for military service. We are not a clerical state that splices religious structures and military forces. By the way, in modern Russia, the institute of military priests was first declared in 2009.

– Under President Medvedev?

– Yes. Soon there were two provisions on the work of military priests – in the Ministry of Defense and in the Russian Orthodox Church. At the moment, according to the information of the Synodal Department for Relations with the Armed Forces, there are 220 Orthodox priests, 4 imams and two lamas in the regular positions of army priests. And about 2,000 more people feed military units, brigades, military educational institutions. Officially, they are called “assistant unit commanders for work with religious servicemen.” All confessions in this law are equalized.

– How do priests find themselves in a war zone today?

– If a clergyman is ready to support the fighters in the NVO, then he receives a blessing and departs there on a business trip, as expected, having in his hands a travel certificate from the Synodal Department of the Russian Orthodox Church, where he puts the mark “departed / arrived.” Today we have about 15-20 such seconded priests. Approximately the same number left for the NWO, in addition to the Synodal Department, as volunteers. But in general, no one can order a clergyman to go there. It should still be his own choice.

– And who finances all this? Ministry of Defense?

— Those priests who depart on a business trip to the area of ​​the special operation, the LPR and the DPR, are financed from funds and from philanthropists.

Are there any dead among the priests of the MP ROC?

“I know of three. Priest Anatoly Grigoriev died on September 9 while performing his pastoral duties, he was in the Tatar battalion “Alga”.

On September 25, the confessor of the Cossack regiment of the Don Cossack brigade, Archpriest Efimy Kozlovsky, died. He left five children.

And the very first on March 25, 2022, clergyman Oleg Artemov died in the Belgorod region. In general, this is in the traditions of the Russian priesthood – to die for their homeland and faith, before the revolution, priests went into battle in front of their regiment with a cross and / or banner, raising the morale of the troops, whole ships went under water, and together with them the sea priests, praying to the last . But modern artillery warfare is different. Now the priest serves a prayer service for those who go on assignment, but do not go with them. Although he certainly runs the risk of accidentally being under enemy fire.

– You are talking about the fact that about twenty seconded priests and the same number of volunteers work in the war zone. While the number of military personnel is in the hundreds of thousands. Now mobilized people will be added to them. Isn’t that enough?

— It is difficult to answer this question. There can be no order from above. In fact, this is, of course, an insufficient number when compared with any other European countries. In international law, one priest is assigned to 600 military personnel. In Ukraine, where the law on military chaplains is also in force, there is one priest for every 400 people. Our number is still much lower. There is a very great need for clergy in the LDNR. There are obviously not enough chaplains there. Everything moves so fast…

— Is it impossible to partially mobilize the priests? Do they need to be mobilized at all? Many of them served in their youth and have military IDs.

– Not. A priest can be drafted, but he will not join the army as a soldier. There is a certain duality of the law, but according to the status of his priesthood, he should not fight. According to the Geneva Convention of 1949, all religious personnel are classified as non-combatants, that is, not directly participating in hostilities. Even if a priest is taken prisoner, he must be given the opportunity, in accordance with international standards, to continue to take care of his colleagues who are in captivity with him.

What do priests bring to Donbass? With crosses and icons?

– And with them too. Usually philanthropists buy suitcases on duty, like from the military, where there are baptismal accessories, an epitrachelion, a monstrance, as I said, priests wear a special uniform, since it is not very convenient to be in a cassock, like camouflage, it is written on the left shoulder who he is – priest, archpriest, on the right is the sign of the cross, so that it is clear that this person is a clergyman.

In order to ensure safety, priests can be given helmets and first aid kits. There are courses in Moscow where priests are shown how to behave correctly during a battle, how to provide first aid. Of course, such knowledge is necessary, but no one teaches them how to shoot.

– How difficult is it to conduct religious rites in combat conditions, the same funeral service, memorial service?

– Very difficult. After all, it is necessary not only to fulfill the last duty in relation to the fallen soldier, but also to support his surviving comrades, to provide assistance to the seriously wounded, crippled. “He who has not been to the sea has not prayed to God” – there is such a popular saying, you cannot argue with it. In Orthodox prayers, the changing sea is compared with earthly life itself, as well as with the struggle of the human soul with passions.

When a serviceman goes to perform a combat mission, to perform his duty, he faces death. And the priest understands this too. For him, who, due to the duty of his religious service, is in the zone of military or border operations, each warrior is a person with his divine soul.

– National battalions operate in the NMD zone, where representatives of the same nationality and faith serve, but basically the composition of army units, especially those just created from mobilized ones, is mixed by religion. And, of course, this can cause conflicts, including on religious grounds, how can a priest prevent this?

– If we take the situation of mobilization or contractual enlistment for military service, then a soldier is transferred from the usual urban or rural conditions to a remote garrison, a place of service. In essence, they are “pulled out” of the context of his religious environment.

Of course, this is hard, and he has the right to spiritual strengthening. At the same time, the priest will not and is not obliged to report to the commander what happens during his conversations with the flock. There is a mystery of confession, among other things. An army psychologist must write a report on his activities, a political officer directly carries out the orders of a commander, a priest has a completely different mission. But it should be noted that in response, the military chaplain should not interfere in the actions of the commanders or interfere with them.

– Does the duty of a priest include an educational moment? People are all different, and not all of them are ready to be immediately squeezed into the harsh military everyday life.

– Not. This is my answer as a lawyer. The priest should conduct conversations only on spiritual topics. Propaganda and agitation are not included in its functionality.

— Can an Orthodox priest take care of a Muslim?

— By analogy with other countries: if a representative of another confession exists in the nearest location, then the deputy commander for personnel should try to contact him and help his subordinates exercise their religious rights.

If we take the Russian army before the revolution, then at the oath-taking ceremony it looked like this: here is an Orthodox priest, followed by a Catholic priest, then a Protestant pastor, rabbi and imam. And the last was a table with Pomeranian gods. Basically, all religions, if these are not their extreme interpretations, are tolerant. But under extraordinary circumstances, on the verge of death, a clergyman of his faith must confess and take communion.