St. Petersburg, March 31, 2022
Photo: mitropolia.spb.ru
The funeral rite for a military chaplain of the Russian Orthodox Church who died during shelling in a Russian border village last week was served in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
The Order of Courage was posthumously bestowed upon him by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Archpriest Oleg Artemov (1957-2022) was laid to rest by His Grace Bishop Nazary of Kronstadt and His Grace Bishop Savvaty of Bronnitsy, the Chairman of the Synodal Department for Interaction with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies, Archimandrite Alexei (Ganzhin), the chairman of the Dicoesan “Military” Department, clergy of the military deanery, and clergy of the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral, reports the St. Petersburg Metropolia.
Fr. Oleg selflessly served others for decades, thinking only of eternal life, Bp. Savvaty said. He was a cleric of the military deanery, and in recent years, he served in the Church of the Great Martyr George the Victorious in Novaya Ladoga
He died on March 24 while serving as a chaplain with soldiers in the Russian village of Zhuravlevka, Belgorod Province, just 25 miles north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkov. According to Russian reports, the village was hit when the Ukrainian army fired from a Smerch rocket launcher.
Photo: mitropolia.spb.ru
Following the funeral service, the presidential decree on awarding the deceased with the Order of Courage was read out, and the Order was handed to Fr. Oleg’s widow.
A military chaplain’s “duty is to remind soldiers: when everything is over, every soldier must repent before God. Fr. Oleg served in the Armed Forces for a long time, so he knew how to do this,” Bp. Nazary reflected.
Fr. Oleg’s coffin was then carried around the church to the singing of “Holy God, Holy Might, Holy Immortal.”
The circumstances of Fr. Oleg’s death are being carefully investigated by the Russian Investigative Committee, reports spb.mk.ru.
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