In the coming days, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine may vote for bill No. 4626 “On the Military Chaplaincy Service”. The essence of this document and its threat to Ukrainian society was commented on by Yuriy Reshetnikov, a religious expert, Ph.D. in philosophy and ex-head of the State Committee of Ukraine for Nationalities and Religions. This was reported by the Information and Education Department of the UOC.

The expert noted that the need to legislatively regulate military chaplaincy is long overdue, but the current draft of the Law “On Military Chaplaincy” contains paradoxical provisions that allow the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to serve in any position in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but deprive the right to receive pastoral care by priests of the UOC.

In the current version of the draft law, in part 3 of article 7, it is noted that a military chaplain cannot be a person whose access to military units is limited by any law. According to him, this refers to the notorious law No. 5309, which is also called the “Law on renaming the UOC”. It says that religious organizations, whose leading center is allegedly in the country of the aggressor, cannot perform chaplaincy in military units.

All these moments are manipulations aimed at limiting the capabilities of the UOC and violating the rights of citizens of Ukraine, loyal to the UOC, including those who serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other paramilitary formations of the country. “The paradox of the situation is that there are no restrictions in the legislation for citizens of the UOC believers to fulfill their military duties, including in officer positions,” Reshetnikov emphasized in his commentary to “Pershoy Kozatsky”. – Citizens loyal to the UOC are called up for service or voluntarily go to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and this is not some kind of threat to national security. At the same time, the opportunity to receive guardianship from the clergy of their Church for some reason poses a threat. “