A group of military clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church carried out a Peacekeeping Spiritual Mission with the Holy Fire to the combat zone in Donbass. The trip of the chaplains took place on Bright Week, from May 4 to May 7, 2021, Pravlife reports.

Before the start of the mission, the head of the Synodal Department of the UOC for interaction with the Armed Forces and other military formations of Ukraine, Metropolitan Augustine of Belotserkovsky and Boguslavsky, performed a prayer for the travelers, blessed the priests on the road and sprinkled charitable cargo and transport with blessed water. The chaplains received the blessing to congratulate the Ukrainian military, residents of the front-line zone and children in orphanages on Easter.

During the mission, the priests visited the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk regions: Volnovakha, Mariupol, Avdeevka, Verkhnetoretskoe, Bakhmut, Popasnaya, Izium, Kremennoe, Slavyansk, Severodonetsk, Happiness, Rubizhne, Kramatorsk, Dobropolye. Chaplains brought lamps with the Holy Fire, Easter gifts, medicines and provisions to Donbass. At the local level, priests held spiritual conversations and performed divine services, communicated with the clergy and parishioners of local churches.

The peacekeeping spiritual mission to Donbass has been conducted by the priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on a regular basis since 2014. The chaplains hope that this work will continue and will further contribute to the establishment of dialogue and the onset of the desired peace in Ukraine.