OCU speaks of conflict with AFU leadership over chaplains

Oleksiy Tereshchuk, head of the AFU Military Chaplaincy Service of the AFU Commander-in-Chief's Office. Photo: Army Inform

Ioann Yaremenko, head of the "Synodal Department of Military Chaplaincy of the OCU", told Ukrinform that his structure has a conflict with the leadership of the AFU Military Chaplaincy Service (MCS) of the Office of the AFU Commander-in-Chief, who Yaremenko described as "political officers".

According to him, the reason for the conflict is that the OCU is not sufficiently considered in the army.

In particular, in his opinion, there are disproportionately many Protestants and Uniates and only one representative of the OCU in the Interfaith Council under the AFU MCS. Yaremenko said that the OCU requires much more representation of its structure in the Council.

Also, according to him, too many Protestants serve as chaplains in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the OCU is afraid of proselytizing.

Yaremenko strongly criticized the AFU Chaplaincy Service, saying that "former political officers", who "cannot be competent in a religious environment, neither in the Orthodox nor in any other" sit there. The "hierarch" also complained that the military does not want to introduce representatives of the OCU into the structure.

He threatened that if the situation is not corrected now, then after the war "we will have an insane collapse of suicides, alcoholism and the collapse of families".

As earlier reported, OCU and the UGCC clerics do not want to go to the front as chaplains.

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