The priests will appear in the army and navy in the near future - the patriarch

21 September 2010 1

Military personnel especially need spiritual support, and the ROC military priests should appear in the army and navy in the near future, said Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill at a meeting with personnel of the 16th Pacific Fleet submarine squadron on the pier of the closed port city of Vilyuchinsk in Kamchatka.

"By the decision of the President of the Russian Federation, the military clergy institute begins to develop in the Russian Armed Forces. We are still taking the very first steps - perhaps not sufficiently energetic. But since the legal basis has been laid, I hope in the near future in our troops, in the army, in the navy, There will be clergymen who will serve alongside the military men, spiritually strengthening those who really need spiritual support, "the patriarch said.

A military man, he said, needs spiritual support. "Because the risks associated with military service are so great that they cannot be compensated for by any material benefits. No material benefits can compensate for injury, and even more, loss of life. And if a person takes the oath and gives obligations, if necessary, give life for the Motherland “This means that this kind of service to the country and the people requires tremendous moral strength,” said the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

He is convinced that duty is a moral concept and "no law can make a person go to meet fire, only the inner consciousness of the need to fulfill duty, reliance on God's will and his help help a person not to lose courage in the most difficult circumstances in the face of death." "All this is the reason why the church has always been, is and will be with the armed forces, doing everything to spiritually support, strengthen and educate servicemen in their devotional service to the Motherland, impeccable loyalty to the oath, readiness to protect their people even at the cost of their life", - the patriarch emphasized.

He recalled that every day during the service in each temple a prayer "about the authorities and the army" is offered.
The Primate expressed gratitude to the submariners for the fact that during the most difficult time Russia went through in the 90s, they did not abandon their fighting position and under the most difficult conditions, "which were perceived by many as degrading," military feat.

According to him, already in 2005, when he visited Kamchatka, the situation was changing for the better. “Now, when another Rybachiy (a settlement that is part of Vilyuchinsk) has to look at it - with renovated buildings, with a well-maintained naval infrastructure, when you see a completely different picture, then you realize that a lot has happened over the years that has changed for the better the life of our sailors ", - said the patriarch.

He thanked the leadership of the Pacific Fleet for the high level of interaction with the church. "This interaction began in those very difficult years. The church took a step towards the naval sailors and was accepted with love and trust. God forbid, that as a result of this interaction the spiritual power of our army would be strengthened. If this spiritual power is supported by modern military technical power then it will mean that Russia has a reliable shield, "said the primate. He wished the sailors the health and help of God "in a difficult military service."

The patriarch noted that nowhere else, as in the Far East, the problem of the absence or shortage of people is not realized and he presented the awards - the patriarchal maternity mark, a letter and a money bonus of 20 thousand rubles in size - to four sailors' wives with more than three children. "A multi-family family is a spiritually healthy family, and this is especially important for the military, because it is the rear of everyone who goes hiking," he said.

Commander of the troops and forces in the north-east of the Russian Federation Konstantin Maklov primate presented an icon of St. Nicholas, considered the patron saint of sailors.

The sixteenth squadron of submarines of the Pacific Fleet presented the patriarch with a mock-up of a strategic-purpose nuclear submarine - an analogue of submarines in service with the Pacific Fleet.
Expressing gratitude to the patriarch for the prayers for the servicemen and their spiritual and moral education, Rear Admiral Maklov noted that, on the basis of the treaties concluded by the Russian Orthodox Church, the George the Victorious and Nikolai the Wonderworker submarines are especially concerned, and all the flags of Kamchatka are consecrated, and The fleet is participating in a campaign to raise funds for the revival of the Naval Cathedral in Kronstadt, the main temple symbol of the Russian fleet.

The Patriarch presented the icon of St. John of Kronstadt to the garrison church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Vilyuchinsk, which he also visited.

The rector of the garrison temple is the captain of the second rank of the reserve, in the past, a submarine officer, a priest Alexander Ponomarev. On the wall of the church - granite boards with the names of the dead sailors, and the St. Andrew's flag serves as a veil of the Tsar's Gates.

Together with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, the choir of Sretensky Monastery of Moscow arrived in a closed city, which gave a concert of secular and sacred music to the inhabitants of Vilyuchinsk.

In 1938, a base of diesel-submarines was created in Tarinskaya Bay of the Avachinskaya Bay. From the end of 1959, the ship repair industry began to develop, and a few years later, nuclear submarines of the Pacific Fleet settled in Krashennikov's bay.

The city of Vilyuchinsk was formed in 1968 by merging the workers' settlements of Rybachy (atomic submarine base), Primorsky (coastal support units for the Pacific Fleet) and Selvaeva (naval repair shipyard). In 1998, the nuclear submarine flotilla was reorganized into a squadron of nuclear submarine missile cruisers. Submarines with cruise missiles of the Omsk, Tomsk, Vilyuchinsk, Irkutsk, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Submarines of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky 949 BDR, Saint George the Victorious project other. The power of one warhead missiles on these boats, comparable to the power of the bombings that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.

The population of Vilyuchinsk, according to the 2009 year, is more than 25 thousand people, most of them soldiers and members of their families.

The Peter and Paul and Kamchatka Diocese was established in 1840, the first head was the future Saint Innocent of Moscow. Currently, according to the Information Department of the Russian Orthodox Church, the diocese numbers the 43 parish, two monasteries and one hermitage.