The State Duma announced the creation of a concept for the protection of front-line priests
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“Antidote for Dehumanization”
The Russian Orthodox Church wants to give military priests social guarantees, make them beyond the control of the army command and release them from conscription for mobilization. The church on Thursday at the round table in the State Duma announced the creation of a special code of laws for front-line priests. The draft concept has already been supported by Vladimir Putin, representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate assured. And Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Duma Defense Committee, stressed that the clergy today are helping in the fight against the “nasty horde of the collective West.”
“A priest at the front is an antidote to dehumanization,” said Vladimir Legoyda, head of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media, at the round table “Church, State, Army: Historical Tradition and Modern Aspects of Cooperation,” which was held in the State Duma on Thursday .
The head of the Lower House Defense Committee, General Andrey Kartapolov, stressed the special value of clergy in the war zone. According to Kartapolov, now the church plays a crucial role in the confrontation between Russia and the collective West:
– Polovtsy and Pechenegs in Rus’ were called filthy. Why? Because they did not bathe so often and believed not in the Lord, but in something else. Today, the so-called collective West has turned into that same filthy horde where traditional religions are mocked. Where they mock at sacred books, where dens are arranged in temples. A very recent incident simply struck me: a certain university (Edinburgh University. – Approx. “MK”) staged the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” within its walls. Moreover, all the actors there are non-binary personalities. Judas in general is played by a woman in the size of “three x plus size”. But all these non-binaries actually concentrated in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Everyone knows what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, Kartapolov hinted at the biblical parable about the tragic fate of cities destroyed by God for the debauchery of their inhabitants.
More than 170 military priests are helping the soldiers in the NVO zone to avoid the slightest hint of dehumanization, said Abbess Xenia, head of the legal department of the Moscow Patriarchate. 90 of them perform duties in the army under a contract concluded with military units. More than 80 went to the front as volunteers. Five military priests are killed. The military clergy are ready to continue to carry out pastoral duties in military units, the head of the legal department of the Russian Orthodox Church emphasized. But there is one “but”. Not only the Almighty should protect the priests, but also the law. It’s just that the law doesn’t exist.
“The legal status of military priests has not yet been properly regulated,” Mother Xenia explained. – Now priests are enrolled in the positions of assistant commanders of military units for work with believing military personnel. This is contrary to the basic norms of freedom of conscience,” Mother Xenia explained.
The abbess explained what the snag was. Under the current scheme, the military priest is directly subordinate to the unit commander. And according to the canons of the church, only its own religious organization should obey. Russian legislation on freedom of conscience is on the same positions. Otherwise, the merging of the state and the church will turn out, and such an alignment is already against the Constitution.
There is another problem that categorically does not suit the ROC. Priests in military units must conduct ceremonies under an employment contract.
– On the side of the employer under such a contract is a military unit represented by its commander. It is completely incomprehensible how a commander can monitor the quality of worship, demand from a priest the fulfillment of his pastoral duties and hold accountable for their violation,” said Abbess Xenia.
Moreover, according to the current army instructions, the priest is a civilian staff, which means a civil servant.
“This, of course, is nonsense,” the chief jurist of the Russian Orthodox Church is perplexed. – According to the legislation, the activities of state bodies cannot be accompanied by religious rites and ceremonies. Obviously, the official duties of a civil servant cannot include the performance of divine services. In view of all these inconsistencies and absurdities, the church, together with the Ministry of Defense, developed a draft concept for changes in legislation to change the legal status of the military clergy.
According to representatives of the church, the project has already been shown to Vladimir Putin, he approved the concept. The purpose of the document is not only to completely untie the military priests from the army command, but also to give the front-line priests the entire necessary set of social guarantees. Now the most painful question is who, in the event of the death of a clergyman in the NVO zone, will take care of his family. Today, this is often done by an orphaned parish.
In addition to social services, the ROC intends to obtain another reinforced concrete guarantee for priests – from conscription for mobilization.
– A clergyman has no right to take up arms under the threat of defrocking. Traditional denominations last autumn petitioned for a presidential decree granting priests a deferment from military service due to mobilization. The petition has not been fully satisfied to date. The Ministry of Defense made an interim decision to exempt priests from conscription for military service on mobilization, but no presidential decree was issued. I want to say that the church firmly stands on the position of the need to issue such a decree, which gives the clergy the right to deferment from conscription for military service for mobilization, – said Abbess Xenia.
Newspaper headline:
Military priests will be protected not only by God
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