Spiritual origin of national patriotic education in the military chaplaincy system

Abstract

The article examines the role of military chaplaincy in the formation of national-patriotic education of the Ukrainian army. The relevance and novelty of the research lies in determining the essence of Ukrainian military patriotism’s spiritual foundations, which is formed on the archetypes of "clan", "Father", "Mother", "Family". Historically, "Father" embodies power, dominion not only over the body, but also over the soul, he brings conscience and moral grounds for subordination in the entire military family, based on the principles of fraternity. The archetype of "Mother" was formed from ancient Slavic ideas about Berehynia, in the Christian era it receives a new incarnation in the image of the Mother of God as the heavenly protector of the entire human race.

One of a woman-mother archetype’s varieties in Ukrainian spiritual culture is Mother Nature, which transforms into the archetype of Mother Earth, which in turn is transferred to the paradigm of the native land - "Nenka-Ukraina", creating the archetype of the Motherland. The lack of desire to conquer others and the desire to preserve one's original, native, defines the essence of the Ukrainian army’s patriotism. It has been established that the Orthodox tradition of military chaplaincy is based on the spiritual union of Cossacks and monasticism during the liberation struggle. Later, the formation of the Ukrainian military clergy was closely connected with the Greek Catholic Church, which at that time had the greatest experience in moral and spiritual support of the Ukrainian national liberation struggle participants in the western Ukrainian lands. The dangers of the destructive influence of pro-Russian denominations’ priests on the moral and psychological state of military personnel are analyzed. It was noted that the armed aggression against Ukraine led to the intensified use of the church and the clergy’s potential for consolidation of the population and strengthening of patriotic feelings in servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as to expose and isolate pro-Russian religious communities. On the basis of the positive experience of the leading world’s countries, an own system of professional training and education of personnel was created, which was based on defining principles: national dignity, patriotism, Christian morality, fidelity to the oath, fidelity to military duty.