Faith on the Russia-Ukraine frontline

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0:55Death can come at any moment for soldiers on both sides of the Ukraine war. Even before Russia's full-scale invasion, eight years of fighting in East Ukraine had already claimed 14 ,000 lives. Now there's been some 70 ,000 confirmed Ukrainian army deaths, deaths, though that figure is likely higher. While on the Russian side, more than 100 ,000 soldiers are publicly confirmed dead. Again, the real toll could be as high as a quarter of a million. But who rallies the troops when morale crumbles and fear creeps in? I'm Lucy Ash, and you're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service. For this edition of Heart and Soul, I've been hearing from Ukraine's military chaplains, supporting the men and women on the battlefield.

1:53I tell them that we are fighting a just war and that it's our duty to defend our country. And across the trenches, I've been finding out how Russian clerics are readying soldiers for battle and promising them eternal salvation. A believer is a person who is not afraid of death. This is a true warrior, and the training of such warriors is primarily the responsibility of our military clergy. This is faith on the Russia-Ukraine front line. And just a warning, this programme contains descriptions that some listeners may find upsetting.

2:43Good day. Greetings from Ukraine, Lucy. A chaplain's day begins with spiritual and physical exercises. I run 10 kilometers every day because you have to be healthy to help others. This is a slightly breathless father, Dmitry, a bearded man with lively black eyes. Ordained as an Orthodox priest in 2017, he became a chaplain in the Ukrainian army six years later. In this video filmed near the front line, he's in running gear rather than a cassock. Although he has to watch his back, and there are landmines among the trees, he seems to draw energy from the landscape around him.

3:32Even in war you can always find something beautiful. There is a saying, A fly will sit on fields, but a bee will sit on a flower. In other words, some people will settle for anything, while others strive for something better. Father Dimitro high fives as he runs past the camera. Father Dimitro, who's been authorised to speak to us by his military superiors, is attached to the 77th Airmobile Brigade, which has seen some of the heaviest fighting. His unit is constantly being replenished because of deaths and injuries. After his morning run, he describes a typical day to me on a video call.

4:23I usually wake up at 6am. First I conduct the divine liturgy. I try to do it every day. I pray for our military. I pray for the missing and those in captivity. Can you just tell me how close you are to the front line, without being too precise? Very close. And every night there is shelling around the city. Very close. And can you sleep through that now? Yeah, I sleep normally most of the time. A person cannot live constantly in a state of tension. But you know, the war is very dynamic now. And drones are the new artillery. They decide this war. It was not like that before. When I ask if he ever feels like leaving his unit, he rolls up his sleeves.

5:14On his left forearm is a huge tattoo of the Prophet Elijah, and on his right, Archangel Michael.

5:26I don't just fight with my own arms. I have the prophet Elijah and the archangel Michael to guide me with their strengths. Back in 2022, I was completely drained of energy. I was ready to give up. Only God's power kept me going. I was wounded. Not that seriously. But one of my comrades died right next to me. His legs were torn off. The bombs were exploded almost under my feet. I can still hear the noise in my head. It won't go away. Two soldiers, including the medical officer, died that day. Six were injured, including Dimitro, who had cuts all over his hands and face. When he left the hospital a few weeks later to rejoin his unit, he discovered his commander had been ambushed by the Russians and taken prisoner.

6:21Father Dimitro has experienced many losses. He keeps a tally of them on social media and has several photos of fallen soldiers pinned to the walls of his makeshift chapel. He tells me he finds that comforting, but as we talk, it's clear that some deaths have taken an especially heavy toll.

6:46I had to carry the body of my childhood friend, my closest friend, to his parents' home. and a rotillary shell and a piece of shrapnel had pierced his body armour. I constantly feel guilty that I'm still alive and all my friends are dead. I'm sorry. This is really difficult to talk about. Sorry, sorry. No, don't be sorry. I'm sorry to ask you these questions. Sasha Plachuta, his closest friend from his hometown, who loves cycling and Ukrainian history, was an engineer in peacetime. He turned machine gunner after the invasion, and he received the armed forces of Ukraine's Steel Cross for the liberation of the Kharkiv region.

7:39He was killed in January 2023.

7:48At this windy funeral in the mud and the snow, prayers are being said for another of Father Dimitro's friends, the godfather of his son. He sent me a video one of the mourners had filmed on their phone.

8:12A military band plays as soldiers slowly march to the graveyard, carrying flags, wreaths and photographs of Alexander Piskunov. Father Dmitro's son's godfather was killed in the first year of the war, but his body was only found months later.

8:38His funeral was held at St Michael's Cathedral in the centre of Kiev. Mourners filed past, silently placing their candles on the coffin. So many men and women have died that the memorial wall outside the cathedral no longer has room for new photos of fallen soldiers. So how have more than three years of so many losses affected Father Dimitro's faith?

9:14My faith got stronger because I knew the Lord saved me for a reason. I have been given another mission. It's a miracle I've survived when others haven't. I have been to hell and back and now I have to bear witness to that. What do you tell soldiers who talk to you and say they're afraid or that they don't want to carry a weapon because they think it's wrong to kill? I tell them that we are fighting a just war and that it's our duty to defend our country. We did not want this war. The enemy came to us. We had to defend ourselves.

10:04When we're in the underground basement or underground shelters that are deep enough, we sing some Ukrainian songs, Ukrainian folk songs.

10:19My name is Alexandra Andriyashina, but short is Sasha. and I'm the senior lieutenant of chaplain's ministry in Ukrainian army forces. And I believe you were the first woman to be made a military chaplain. Yes, first female officer of chaplain's ministry in Ukrainian army forces. Sasha, born into the Orthodox faith, wasn't interested in religion until she was 19 and became a Protestant. As a teacher and social worker, she supported low-income families and teenagers from the Chernobyl zone. But once the Moscow-backed conflict in East Ukraine began in 2014, she left Kiev to work as a volunteer Baptist chaplain near the front line.

11:12We speak over the internet. Sasha, where are you at the moment? It sounds a little bit windy. I'm in Dnipro area and I'm in my tent. My chapel is like a tent. And so it really is windy here. It's not big. It's kind of tent that our battalion received a long time ago. I think we got a bunch of them from Turkey or it was made in Turkey. It's nice inside. And we have two tables with icons, with literature, Christian booklets, Bibles, little prayer books. And we have benches for people to sit. And that's about it. So it's like a little oasis of calm in the war. Exactly. One hundred percent. Do you carry a weapon?

11:59No, no, we're not allowed. Ukrainian chaplains, officers are not allowed to have weapon. I have an assistant. He's a soldier from my battalion and he carries the weapon. For half of the month, Sasha is at battalion headquarters, the other half near the front. I spend time just basically drinking tea with everybody. I'm talking to them. I'm listening to them because people get worn down, tired, exhausted, sometimes a little bit frustrated because we're people, you know, and we need this encouragement. So it's very intense two weeks. Intense and exhausting because the chats over tea are often interrupted.

12:45Green tea or fruit tea, Sasha asks one of the soldiers. Oh, it's kicking off now, she says. We better switch off the kettle and head for the bomb shelter. Soldiers, they have tendency for some kind of like superstitious. When there is an intense fight, they, of course, want to pray. They want to tell God, please save me. But, of course, then when everything is, again, peaceful, normal, and the guys are more or less safe, or they even go back to their families for a short vacation, they kind of forget about God. But when you can see killing and death all around you, does it feel as if God is in control?

13:30I don't feel it, but I believe. I really believe we have all those things we're fighting for, our nation, our children, our future, our history, our beliefs, our values. So we are laying down our lives for that. You know, through us, God is stopping evil and we have to stop evil. Self-directed investing, trading, full service wealth management, automated investing, financial planning, thematic investing, retirement planning. Phew. And to think, that's just a small taste of what Schwab offers. Because Schwab knows that when it comes to your finances. Choice matters. No matter your goals, investing style, life stage or experience, Schwab has everything you need, all in one place, so you can invest your way.

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15:00You're listening to Faith on the Russia-Ukraine Frontline from the BBC World Service with me, Lucy Ash.

15:15A group of soldiers singing, I will pray for holy Russia, make their way up a hillside. At the front is a young man in a helmet with an icon of Jesus on his body armour. His father, Serafim, a deacon of the Russian Orthodox Church, who pops up regularly on social media.

15:40Can a priest pick up a weapon, he asks in this video. Under canon law, Orthodox clergy should be defrocked for shedding blood, even in self-defence. But Father Serafim argues this war, with its quadcopters and drones, is different.

16:01If I shoot down one of these metal birds, he says, the person operating it 10 kilometres away doesn't suffer, and I save myself and the lives of my soldiers. I believe there's absolutely no sin in this. Most of the 2 ,000-odd Russian priests who have served on or near the front line are volunteers. That is, they're not full-time priests of the Ministry of Defence, and they don't benefit from anything like the same pay or sign-up bonuses as contract soldiers. Many are reluctant to risk their lives in President Vladimir Putin's special military operation. In a recent address to the Duma, Russia's parliament, Father Dmitry Vasylenkov, the chief military priest, lobbied for more chaplains.

16:56A believer is a person who is not afraid of death. He knows that death is defeated. This is a true warrior. And the training of such warriors is primarily the responsibility of our military clergy. And the soldiers feel this. There is a tremendous need for military clergy at the front, an enormous need. Father Dimitri has a chest full of medals and an army background. He was sent to many hotspots and personally participated in combat twice, including in the war in Chechnya. In his memoirs, he recalls helping soldiers by loading cartridges into their machine guns. He tells his audience in the Duma that in the current war, chaplains have again played a key role.

17:45I'll give you a brief example. Kursk, 6th of August last summer. The enemy was advancing. Our military priests began arriving literally the very next day to help our soldiers in this extremely difficult situation. It took our priests just two days, two days of work with 700 conscripts who had left their positions, and then all of them to a man, including 46 deserters, suddenly refused to flee and said, take us back to the front, we will fight to the end. Our soldiers stopped retreating and moved forward, thanks in part to the work of our military priests.

18:28The idea of chaplains acting as enforcers in the ranks is reminiscent of the morale-boosting role played by the atheist political commissars in the Soviet-era Red Army. We tried, on several occasions, to speak to Father Dmitry Vasilenkov for this programme. We didn't receive a response, but the press spokesman of one bishop I once knew well told us times had changed. Russia's church, he said, doesn't give interviews to enemies who may single out our chaplains at the front line. Many of Russia's 40 ,000 Orthodox priests don't want to become chaplains, not because of the lack of pay or the danger involved, but because they oppose the war.

19:14It took me several months to find a priest willing to speak to me. But one cleric, who we're calling Father Nicholas, did agree to an interview, on condition we didn't reveal his real name or his location in Russia.

19:37So we have an actor voicing his words. In the early days, I wrote anti-war posts on social media. It was about the fifth day after the invasion began. His posts soon caught the attention of the FSB, the Russian security services. They called to say that I shouldn't be posting this stuff. I must take it down. Those were the only threats I have faced up till now. Father Nicholas's parish is in a medium-sized town far from Moscow. Our parishioners are very diverse. Some support the war, some oppose it, others feel conflicted. They say, yes, war is bad, but it is our homeland, so we can't go against it.

20:25There is no consensus. One person even asked me to pray for Vladimir Putin, and I had to explain that I couldn't do that. Other parishioners have come to me in great distress, unable to understand what is going on, especially those with family in Ukraine. And that man who wanted you to pray for Putin, did he explain why? He said the president is facing a tough situation right now and needs our prayers and support because the whole country depends on him alone. People are heavily influenced by the propaganda they see on TV.

21:08In this TV report entitled Communion Saved Us, the hero is a chaplain, Father Sviatislav, who stands shoulder to shoulder with frontline troops.

21:23In this scene, the chaplain is showing his military kit to an admiring young reporter. These are our bulletproof vests, he tells her, and here are our special bags for carrying our sacred objects. Unlike the reporter, the anti-war priest Father Nicholas is unimpressed. I know a priest. Right now he's at the front, serving as a chaplain. When I hear him say that there is nothing more beautiful than a bomber plane dropping weapons, it really amazes me to the core that he, as a Christian, let alone a priest, can find beauty in death. Did they ever try to send you to the front as a chaplain? No, I've never had such an offer, no.

22:10The fact is that it is not compulsory to go there. Those who go, go solely by their own free will. For all their warmongering, some senior clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church, like the chief military priest Dmitry Vasilienkov, have expressed some concern about soldiers turning into animals on the battlefield. The mass murder of civilians at the very start of the war in the Kiev commuter town of Butcher is a stark symbol of Russian war crimes. Father Nicholas tells me he has glimpsed the darkness in some souls. You know, once I met a former soldier. He was a little drunk. He came up to me and said words that I didn't expect him to say.

23:00He said, I am a criminal. And I said, why are you a criminal? Because I was at war, he replied. And now my daughter thinks I'm a criminal. And yes, actually, I am a criminal. And did he tell you what crimes he'd committed? No, no, no, he didn't say. But when people come to me to confess and say that they are on leave from the army, or even have just come back from the war and want to receive communion, I usually say, well, no, you don't need communion.

23:39Orthodox canon law has always underlined the spiritual gravity of taking life on the battlefield. Basil the Great, one of the church's most revered saints and the father of Eastern monasticism, recommended that those who kill in war should abstain from taking communion for three years. Most of them are not church-going people at all. Communion means little to them. It serves as some kind of charm, something like magic. They think, I'll take communion and go into battle. Maybe that will save me. Many are not saved. Father Nicholas said he's performed over two dozen funeral liturgies for dead soldiers, while the rector of his church has conducted many more.

24:29Families must pay the priest for each service, and funerals can seem like something of a money-making conveyor belt. If a parishioner, a friend or relative has died, Father Nicholas told me he would try to say something heartfelt and meaningful, but he said in 95 % of soldiers' burials, the priest has never met the deceased, nor those mourning him. I'm just praying and singing, that's all. I never preach, because it will be against my conscience. You know the saying about the dead, you should either say good things or say nothing but the truth. Well, I can't say anything good, and I can't tell the truth either, but not because I'm ashamed or scared, but because it would offend the dead man's family.

25:17After all, everyone's got feelings. This is still someone's son. Yes, this is someone's son, someone's husband or father. I can't say he's going to be all right and in a better world because he's committed a crime. And so I just tell them, pray to God. The Lord is our hope. The Lord is comforting us, right?