By Rostyslav Averchuk
Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, Oct 18 (EFE).- Mykola Luchynskyi, head of Ukraine’s largest Catholic parish, and dozens of other priests regularly visit the front lines and remain in close contact with soldiers, offering spiritual support amid a looming threat of death.
Children’s paintings hang on the walls of a basement room at the Catholic Church of Christ the King of the Universe in Khmelnytskyi. Spent shell casings, bomb fragments, military unit flags, and photographs of Ukrainian soldiers fill the space.
“I wanted it to look just like the dugouts on the front line,” the 42-year-old Luchynskyi told EFE in the museum he established in 2021 to reflect the realities of the war, which at the time was largely confined to Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
Luchynskyi first traveled to the front in 2016 as a civilian volunteer, delivering aid to the unit in which his nephew was serving.
He soon realised that soldiers also needed his help as a priest.
A new kind of ministry
“Nobody, including me, knew then what exactly military chaplains were supposed to do,” he recalled.
He has continued visiting the front regularly ever since, conducting religious services and offering spiritual guidance.
Although many Ukrainians identify as Christians, most of them Orthodox, Luchynskyi acknowledges that few soldiers are deeply religious, beyond occasionally attending religious ceremonies.
Some are sceptical or angry about their circumstances, confronting him with the question of how God could have allowed the war. He responds by speaking about the freedom of choice God has given humanity.
Those who discover or deepen their faith during the war, however, often experience it intensely, he said.
Many soldiers also need someone to listen and pray with them as they confront difficult situations involving their families or military service — problems they cannot always discuss with their fellow soldiers.
The key, Luchynskyi came to understand, was simply “to be near.”
The importance of being present
“The most important thing is to build trust, to pray, to help, to always be available. As chaplains, we never know when our help may be needed,” he said.
His visits have brought him into dangerous situations, including one occasion when he celebrated Mass amid an artillery exchange.
But the widespread use of drones has changed how chaplains operate. Because they do not carry weapons, they rarely venture to the very front line, where their presence could put additional pressure on soldiers during combat.
Luchynskyi recalls a soldier who called him online while his position was under heavy bombardment.
They prayed together, the soldier inside his dugout, the priest hundreds of kilometres away in his church, as explosions sounded through the phone.
He has also encountered striking examples of resilience, including a father of 14 who volunteered for military service and a soldier who returned to duty after suffering a serious facial wound.
“For such people, who do not complain and do what is right, I want to live and go there,” Luchynskyi said.
Alongside his work as a chaplain, he provides canine-assisted therapy to soldiers undergoing rehabilitation at a local psychiatric hospital.
A growing role in the armed forces
Military chaplaincy was formally established in Ukraine in September 2022.
Since then, more than 300 priests representing 15 religious denominations and communities, including Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish groups, have joined the military after completing specialized training.
“We don’t have to prepare the soldiers for battle, that’s what commanders do. Our mission is to touch their souls,” Luchynskyi said.
The priest believes the situation on the front is better than it has been for years, despite the heavy losses suffered by Ukrainian forces.
While Russian attacks on cities seek to weaken the country’s defense and turn public anger against the authorities, he said, Ukrainian troops are launching attacks in some areas and remain determined to continue fighting.
“Evil, if left unchecked, will spread like a disease. If we stop fighting, Russia will destroy us or turn us into slaves,” he said. EFE
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