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Delegation Consults with Russian Orthodox on Restoring Military Chaplaincy

Episcopal News Service. August 31, 1995 [95-1215]

(ENS) A top-level delegation of military chaplains from the Episcopal Church -- including three bishops who are former chaplains -- spent 10 days consulting with Russian Orthodox Church leaders on restoration of its chaplaincy to the military, lost in the aftermath of the 1917 Communist Revolution.

"This pilgrimage really began when Patriarch Alexy II sent a young priest to The General Theological Seminary in New York and he studied the work of some of our chaplains," said Bishop Charles Keyser, suffragan bishop for the Armed Forces and sponsor of the trip. "Then last spring the Russians asked for a chalice to use in its ministry with the military. The Army Chaplains School in New Jersey found a new Orthodox field kit and sent it with Bishop Richard Grein of New York during a diocesan visit. In response, the Russians said that they would welcome a visit by a group of chaplains."

"We went as an official delegation under the auspices of the presiding bishop to share with them our ministry and how it has evolved," Keyser added. He emphasized that the visit was also a part of increasing cooperation between the Episcopal Church and the Russian Orthodox Church as it emerges from 74 years of persecution.

The four active chaplains, three bishops, their wives and several staff members began their pilgrimage in St. Petersburg June 25, visiting churches and monasteries that are being restored, as well as cultural sites.

A catacomb church

The group received a particularly warm welcome from the Rev. Valery Shevstov at St. Nicholas Parish near St. Petersburg, originally built for czarist artillery regiments but closed in the 1930s.

"We are grateful for your courage to come to this destroyed church and share with us," Shevstov said during a welcoming luncheon in the middle of the construction site. The church was used as a tank repair shop during World War II. "Welcome to a real catacomb church," he said. "The time of regulation is over and we know that we can rise from ashes only with faith, just as Russia itself will rise only if we can teach and baptize the people."

"Your presence is another sign of our advancing relationship as churches," the Rev. Vassily Stoikov, dean of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy told the delegation. "We know the role of your church in helping, the witness of brotherly love between our churches, and we hope that those connections will continue."

The dean spoke of the immense new freedom of religion, but also of the overwhelming challenge of restoring thousands of badly damaged church properties and providing clergy to serve them. The task is complicated by what he called the "formidable economic obstacles" facing Russian society.

Cooperation on spiritual care

During a meeting in Moscow with the committee that is planning restoration of the chaplaincy, it was clear that both the church and the military are eager to cooperate in spiritual care. An Army colonel on the committee pointed out that the church had played an important role in Russian history but warned that the process of cooperation "was just beginning and that we must take a few baby steps first."

The Rev. Victor Petliuchenko, deputy director of the church's department for external church relations, agreed that the committee was still searching for the key to cooperation. He welcomed the delegation by stressing that the Episcopal Church was "one of the few churches that didn't change its attitude during the period when we were a suffering church. Thank God for your consistency. Now we can see who our true friends are." He emphasized that the church in Russia was staggering under the implications of its new-found freedom, facing "so many opportunities but with few of the resources we need to respond."

Military expects to find the church

Presentations by the Episcopal chaplains covered the history and organization of the military chaplaincy in America, as well as current issues such as diversity, alcohol and drug problems, and a presentation on family-related issues by Carol Beason. She works with the Navy in Hawaii where her husband is an Air Force chaplain.

"No other clergy in our church spend as much time with their people as our chaplains," said Keyser the next day. "When our military people turn around they expect to find the church." Petliuchenko peppered Keyser and the delegation with questions about preserving theological uniqueness and integrity in an ecumenical setting -- and keeping the church's role separate from the military. Keyser responded,

"We are there to be the church at crucial times in the lives of these people" and that sometimes meant it was necessary to stretch the boundaries. "But the military knows who we are, that the church controls the form and conduct of the chaplaincy while the military controls the environment," he said.

In a meeting with a delegation from the Diocese of New York that overlapped the visit by the chaplains, Patriarch Alexy II said that the church's Holy Synod is establishing a special department, headed by a bishop, to deal with the issues in restoring a military chaplaincy. "We have much to learn," the patriarch said in expressing appreciation for the visit of the chaplains. "You have proven in practice already that you are committed to help us... In many ways we are beginning from scratch. We must share with those churches which have a long experience."

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