and trust in our defenders, let the carol sound for everyone, and especially for our soldiers, enveloping christmas with warmth, warming mentally and physically. i wish you, your family and friends a merry christmas and a blessed and victorious new year. christ was born, let's praise him. greetings, this is an interview on espresso, which we have prepared for you on the eve of a number of religious holidays, and actually, in order not to lose the most important thing, it is important to fix it. these moments in

our conversations with guests, whose opinion you can definitely be interested in and whose opinion will be authoritative and important to any ukrainian. i am glad to welcome serhii dmitriev, chaplain of the military institute of the kyiv national shevchenko university with me in this conversation. i congratulate you, serhiy. father, yes, you can, as you want. actually, i will probably start with a floor question. you are a bit of background, you are a person who in 2014 made a decision for yourself and together with people who believed in you, decided to join the ukrainian orthodox church of the kyiv patriarchate at that time, and it was not a problem for you to join the orthodox church of ukraine and become a part of it, to become its representative, in particular at the front as well, now ukraine is on the threshold of certain changes, and we are having such a transitional year. when we switch to

the new julian calendar, the vast majority of ukrainians still, do they even talk about it at the front, or do they talk about it among our defenders? well, first of all, we switched to a new calendar, and a year ago, many parishes already celebrated christmas according to the new julian calendar, and at that time i was the chaplain of the 30th brigade, we celebrated christmas already on the 25th. and this was accepted by the military personnel with great pleasure, because the question was certainly not on the calendar, no one wants to celebrate christmas with the enemy, but everyone wants to celebrate christmas for the whole european world, and this is the first trend, and they could have asked for sure such a phrase, that when we celebrate christmas like all normal people, ugh. this

question does not arise, if everyone understood that this has already happened and it is necessary to testify in this way, perhaps isolated cases will occur among more people of respectable age, who are used to living in certain traditions, but at the front it is not at all such an important issue, at the front there is the issue of ensuring the evacuation of the wounded, the issue of the relationship between the team. servicemen , the provision of weapons, this worries the servicemen today, ugh, and as for the main challenges and moments of a moral and ethical nature, i understand that there is a certain secrecy in the work you carry out with our military, about that, i

have to ask this is the question, as a civilian, that most bothers the person who has left to defend his country, and which, in principle , every day risks meeting face to face with death? well, you know, there are different categories of military personnel, there are categories of military personnel who have been fighting it since the 14th year, there are professional military personnel, there are those people who left civilian work, that is... as well as journalists, people who are from the services, from business who didn't know what the army was, never even served , limited fit and everyone has their own requests, but if that's what the bottom line will make a disturbing bottom line, probably more, uh, it's social security after being wounded, ugh , what's next, when?... you are wounded and you are leaving

the army, this is probably the usual bureaucracy, which now we will soon hear the report e 100 days of the new. of the ministry of defense, how did they work, will there be changes , because the uniqueness of the armed forces of ukraine today is that the reform of the armed forces of ukraine takes place right during the war, something that surely no country can afford, we are reforming the army on better during military operations, you know it, a new patch has appeared, where military personnel write that i am ready to give... life, but not ready to give dignity, uh, this is also important, it is important that the army reform the subordination so that it is parallel and not vertical, because a serviceman must know what he

is fighting for and why he is doing exactly that tasks, and where there is communication between commanders and servicemen in trust , openness, with respect, there is success, this is important, where there is cohesion, and these are so common, probably, any problems can arise in every unit , that's okay because it always has been and always will be, but it has to be decided, that's all. the service of the military chaplaincy of the armed forces of ukraine , a relatively newly created history, yes, and extremely important, and from... you know, from the start from birth immediately in the millstone of war, in fact, how this structure manifests itself now, can we say that it too is being reformed on the go, as all armed forces are being reformed, because if you want to survive,

change, well, we understand that this is a completely new structure in the army after the adoption of the law, that surely changes must take place. and there will be mistakes, this is also normal, but the main thing is that we correct them , so that the mistakes are corrected, but today, we see more, probably model countries of nato, in the armed forces of ukraine the scottish service is more, probably a model, unfortunately, er, of the chinese people's republic or even the russian one federation, because today it is under the leadership.

former officers of moral and psychological support, those who were called zempolits, such a service will be reformed and move very slowly and for a long time, and for sure we understand that the chaplains are not ready either accept these positions today, they do not have military experience, but this problem must be solved, that is, this is a story not about meeting the spiritual needs of a person, but more about... i don't know, correcting the brain where it is necessary, that's what the zampolites think unlike the chaplain, there is still no understanding of what the chaplain is for, not everyone has a simple understanding of what he does in war, there is a commander with

experience who clearly understand the functions of the chaplain, how to use him, as a combat unit, and there are people , who simply do not understand yet. and it also depends on commanders, and it usually depends on the entire structure, exactly what will be the training of chaplains, how to recruit them, join the army, because not all chaplains today are ready to join the army precisely because of, let's say, such a created artificial problem that exists, uh, cleric a civilian can join the ranks of the chapel. i understand correctly, well, according to the law of ukraine, a chaplain is a priest, yes , who has graduated and has a higher theological education, has a certain experience, pastoral ministry, and then he receives a mandate from his religious organization for the right to exercise

chaplain activity, and he enters the army, already as a chaplain priest, undergoes additional training and enters the military. unit, where they carry out their activities, and then constantly, as he should learn, gradually join her new team with new ones. by the rules of life and military life, this is a time of course and usual preparation, to the extent that in the community of clergy in general there are processes that are similar to the relations of military personnel with civilians, so very often a military personnel , falling into the rear, feels, to put it mildly, uncomfortable in connection with the way civilians behave, how they... live, how they form their everyday life, sometimes forgetting to do it

with a view, at least for war. and is there such a situation in the circles of the clergy, that is, in order to want to be a chaplain and go to spiritually support the army, it is necessary to respond to some internal challenge and have a certain inner courage, in my opinion, are all the clergy ready for this? well, the service of a chaplain is difficult, it is very different from the service of a priest parishes, if we are talking about the orthodox , such a traditional church, because this is a different schedule of the day, these are completely different people, we cannot impose our faith on military personnel, preserves their religious freedom, someone may not be a believer in your unit, someone believers, and this is not... a place for proselytizing, when you recruit the faithful, is the spiritual support of military

personnel, to provide them, to meet their religious needs within the limits of their competence and within the limits of their religious freedoms, of course, someone, maybe there, he does not want to go to services and this right must be protected and preserved. a military serviceman, so that the chaplain is also not absent, which does not harm his ministry, this is a different schedule, when you have to come to the service, you have to become a military man somewhere, but he will not turn into a one hundred percent military man and remain a priest, but he is no longer such a priest as in civilian life , and this balance is also difficult for a chaplain to maintain, where when you have to pass, let's say, 50 for 50 of these... skills, if i tell you that i've witnessed

a conflict, a military chaplain, and a civilian the priest, and the military chaplain , not restraining his emotions, asked why you will not tear yourself away from the trough, when you have already eaten, i will not say now where it happened, because it would be unethical, but the story of me, i was waiting for our conversation with you because i wanted to ask a question exactly this, er this... the story that we understand that clergymen are, they are people first of all, yes, and also with pluses and minuses, but they, they are trying, like each of us, to be closer there, nevertheless, this is the feeling that it is not possible until the end our religious community in our country provides comprehensive support. chaplain community, do you have this feeling? er, well

, let's say that no one should provide, our community is provided by the state, the state, the religious community in the army, or some special support of the chaplain within the church community, well, for me it is enough, for someone it is possible. is not enough, and this is a question of each religious community, because, for example, each religious community takes care of its chaplains and religious various priests who serve there in hospitals and so on. since the orthodox church is a young church, uh, a church that was constantly under repression and persecution, until the 18th year, we can say, and... and there until the 14th, the church that was destroyed, institutions,

destroyed , priests, even under yanukovych's regime, it is very difficult to build such a structure, for example, like the roman catholic church, which has its own funds, support funds, structure, and in general , there was a religious life in ukraine. destroyed, and we are still rebuilding this, the religious spirit, which is free religious spirit of ukrainians, it is also important to know. and because and that's why it will constantly arise, and secondly, the moscow patriarchate made us such a surrogate of religion, we didn't see anything but a sample of this, because in ukraine it was a majority, a religious majority that destroyed other religious

communities , and they gave such a religious surrogate, we see the life of the kyivan lavra of monks and... how they behaved, we have beautiful brothers of the greek catholic church, who gave this example of service, and as an example, surely this is the ukrainian catholic university, which we can see, as it is, what are the fruits, which gives the good works of the church, that it is on the way out in ideas, and if we are talking about... a glorious church, then it is only being rebuilt, it is difficult do, and of course we want to do everything, but we can't do everything, and then we have to tell our faithful and these people who want to do it, come and do it, no one, some uncle with a beard is not going to do it for you, huh, that's why i became a priest, because i wanted

the ukrainian church to be socially developed ministry, that's why i... do social ministry, so that i can, for example, dream of a chaplain that i want to see, so i can become that chaplain and try to be that chaplain that i would like to see, and the church is a community of people, therefore, any man can come and make a change, as in the state, as in the church, and in any institution, how difficult it is for you or... you understand during these times when you are with our military personnel at the front, in fact, when you return to the rear, do you react as a representative of the clergy, or do you react as a serviceman to what you see, yet as a priest, as

a priest and a citizen, uh, of course, that i belong to the community of a serviceman. but the priest is still a representative of such calm, peace, he is a spiritual friend, he is the spiritual leader of the unit, but he is still not a military serviceman to the end, that is why he can be such a mediator between civilian life and military life, ugh, and to somewhere... to stick around and say something, and okay, and now the world is in a state of turbulence, and this not only about the russian-ukrainian war, we see how the situation in the middle east is developing in particular and on a religious background, for example, this is how we understand the duration

of the conflict between muslims and jews on the territory of israel and... those territories that would have to become palestine, and karl volokh once remarked , i say, i look at all this, at the awakening of certain anti-semitic movements around the world in connection with the situation, and not only that, and sometimes it seems to me that ukraine is like some kind of oasis, an island common sense in this sensei, because... first, our people, and it is also multi-component in the context of religion, we have representatives, both muslims and jews, and not only, and all this works, all this works in the context of one army, all it works in the context of one state, but what do you think,

does ukraine really have a chance to become a bastion of such common sense for the whole world, at least an example that... it can be, when we win, and when we follow the victory, we we will be one of the most powerful states with great experience, on today there is a possibility that we can also lose, lose this religious freedom, because i am so... i call, i call the moscow patriarchate, for example, christian fascism, when totalitarian states use the religious factor in their interests, it is also possible say. er east, what is happening there now with israel, palestine, because a priori, any religion is a religion of good, like judaism, like islam, and christianity, it's, er, er,

the concept of love to a person, do no harm and so on, but we see when it comes a totalitarian leader, and he begins to rule, er, the religious community, this... the community becomes aggressive, and you can return how you want, do what you want, and the main thing is that we don't become like that, that we preserve er that religious freedom and understanding, why, why is there faith at all, ugh, and what, because in ukraine there are trends in what you can believe in, what you can't believe in, and inflame... the conflict is very simply between people, and the main thing is not to let it happen, i think that it is precisely the common goal of victory that allows people

of different views to gather and connect, but the enemy is doing everything so that we are separated as well, and he is also doing it professionally, and one must always be, let's say, on the alert, the day of our army looks like cooperation where it is appropriate, where it is possible, whether it exists at all, representatives of christianity , islam, judaism, we understand that the spiritual needs of our people may be different, because they are of different faiths, and that is also normal, but how is it, how is it combined, do you have, relatively speaking, friends , colleagues, yes, please, please. friends, colleagues from other faiths, of another religion, and how it all gets along in one army. well, until recently i was

a chaplain in the command of the territorial defense forces, this is the largest number of chaplains in my kind of troops, it is about 80 chaplains, assistants who belong to the religious communities, and in the service, the chaplain service of the territorial defense, the armed forces of ukraine. there are muslims, there are jews, there are representatives of the ivano-frankish churches, and not long ago we created an interreligious chaplaincy council there, yes, to help each other, and, for example, in one of the brigades, the chaplain of the brigade is he belongs to evangelical christians, this is such a christian trend in faith, and... there are a lot of orthodox in his brigade, and for example, there will be christmas soon, and of course everyone is used to seeing christmas lights,

even those people who do not they go to church , they want to sing carols, they see a priest to sprinkle food with holy water, read a prayer, and of course he preaches very well, he knows the word, holy writing, but he is not an orthodox priest, everyone knows that, he invites of the neighboring unit of the priest orthodox, who together with him, on major holidays, traditional for orthodox , covers, let's say there, the needs that he cannot do and provides care specifically to orthodox christians, in the same way, for example, we have a chaplain to imams, there we also took the patron of the forces of territorial defense, it was necessary to vote, but the patrons of the forces... representatives of christians of the christian community, in general, this is not even

the case with all evangelical christians, and there is no such honoring of saints, there is no such, there is no such tradition, it is among the greek catholics , orthodox, roman catholics, there are some literati there, and even he actively participated, this... our muslim and he also has a religious education, and he and the orthodox priests gave suggestions in the same way, and for sure what we can say when we say today , what is the ukrainian church in general, it is any religious community that brings peace, goodness and helps its people, two, almost two years, a great... war, and you too, you have this war, well and actually since 2014, probably one

of the most difficult. tasks, in particular lead our soldiers on their last journey, realizing that one of them will now go to battle and most likely will not return, you also provide this support, then support their families, who will turn, i have a question, do you work with psychologists, is this exclusively, does faith help like that, well, that is, i do not imagine how it is. people how do you charge it? priests are the same people, they are injured in the same way, they burn out in the same way, they can score some things, that is, it takes a toll on health and physical and mental health, of course, we have our own psychological retreats there, when we leave, we talk to each other, we support each other, we also use the help of a professional psychologist

and... a psychiatrist or a psychotherapist, we also conduct, shall we say, such supervision for each other, as far as i and what is stable , do i need to rest, it certainly helps you, your family, and close people, and siblings, and it is important to take care of yourself, and what is happening to you, er, and i think that everyone. priest, that, if one does not, that you need to understand that god sends you a psychologist and close people, or from whom he acts, to support you, to support you, and also in that there is faith, faith that god is in every person who supports you. i 'm sorry if i crossed the line into something personal now, but these are extremely important things, very applied, as far as i'm concerned.

and now, when we talk about politics, the military situation, the situation in the world, almost everyone has come to an agreement that this war will be difficult and long, and there is no need to enchant ourselves with some kind of tomorrow the borders of 1991, swimming in the crimea and so on, this is not very ethical at all , i think, in relation to both our military and people for whom this is... not just a territory, but a home, everyone is getting there now by this moment we are already exhausted, in fact until this moment and this understanding, and it seems that our, our souls are simply empty, but the road ahead is still unknown, how long it is, eh, what would you advise the military, you work with the military, certainly, but also to civilians, who are now someone,

someone, someone in apathy, someone disappointed, someone is catastrophically tired, who also works with the military or with people injured during the war, someone is terribly angry, so angry that when we talk about commandments, it doesn't work for some reason, what would you advise these people, well, her commandments work , the main commandment of love, because we will protect what we love, ugh, it's...

what is unlimited motivation? the example is very simple: imagine that you or someone close to you is sick, he needs the simplest medicine - aspirin, but you urgently need aspirin or some vitamin c. we go to pharmacy, but the pharmacy is closed. and our actions will be such that we will go to another pharmacy. but i would complicate the task and say that in the city of kyiv, all pharmacies are closed after. curfew hour or something but she works in the white church shall we go to the white church for important medicine of course we will no matter how much i make this task the person who needs it and when i say when you stop , the answer must be one, until i find a cure, our goal is victory, and the goal of victory is unimportant. she

will be tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.