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  5. Military chaplaincy: legislative model and legal practice

Almanac of law. Issue 16 (2025), pages 90–95.

DOI: 10.33663/2524-017X-2025-16-90-95

Andrusyshyn B. І.
Military chaplaincy: legislative model and legal practice

The article is devoted to the problem of realization of the constitutional right of the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other state power formations to freedom of worldview and religion in the context of interpretation of the Law of Ukraine «On the Military Chaplaincy Service» in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2014 — including The author emphasizes the return of religion as one of the most important factors of the life process to the public space, its influence as a form of spiritual and practical world on the moral and psychological state of Ukrainian soldiers, their resilience, courage, confidence in their A historical analysis of the problem of the formation of military chaplaincy, which has its roots in the era of the Ukrainian National Liberation Movement of 1917–1921, is made.

The problem of the phenomenon of the implementation of the Law of Ukraine «On the Military Chaplaincy Service», which regulated church-state relations in the Armed Forces and changed their role and status in wartime, is considered. In particular, the Law does not specify such a function of chaplains as the funeral service for the dead. Other bylaws that provide for the main areas of military chaplaincy activities are also analyzed. Attention is drawn to the religious and educational work of chaplains in order to familiarize military personnel with the basics of religious outlook, ethical principles of military service and civic duty to protect the state, and to foster a spirit of patriotism, brotherhood and mutual respect among the personnel. It is proposed to launch promising areas of training for military chaplains by conducting training in special programs of new scientific specialties «Educational Chaplain», «Medical Chaplain», making appropriate changes to the Classifier of Professions DK 003: 2010, which already includes the professional positions of «Clergyman», «Military Priest (Chaplain)». It is noted that the canonical teaching of the Church sometimes comes into conflict with the brutal realities of the current Russian-Ukrainian war. This refers to the document approved by the Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople «For the Life of the World. Towards the Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church» (2020), which condemns violence, expresses views on truce and peace between the warring parties, and addresses Pope Leo XIV on achieving a true, just and lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia. It is concluded that against the background of sharp militarization, including the consciousness of the population, compulsory military service, falling living standards, when we have to live in the new architecture of international law, in the realities of changing approaches to human rights; military chaplains should be part of the general cultural security and defense process, that the activities of the chaplains of the Ukrainian army are part of the information part of the war, without which modern wars cannot be won.

Key words: military chaplain, national security, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, religion, church, freedom of worldview and religion, morality, law, war, national-patriotic education.

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