Korsun Region, Cherkasy Province, Ukraine, December 22, 2025
Photo: uoj.news
A Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) priest was released from military conscription proceedings last week after recruitment officials received confirmation of orders exempting clergy from the draft.
The priest, named Fr. Anatoly, was stopped by police while driving and immediately taken to the local Territorial Recruitment Center, where staff began processing him for military service, including taking photographs for a military ID.
However, the center’s commander intervened minutes later, informing subordinates of explicit instructions not to conscript priests. Fr. Anatoly was promptly released.
Archpriest Ioann Nalapko, dean of the Korsun Region, relayed the incident to the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
The episode took place just after nearly 200 Orthodox Christians gathered on Capitol Hill for the Society of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco’s Day of Action, advocating for religious freedom in Ukraine and protesting the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Among their demands was an end to the forced conscription of UOC priests.
Many UOC clergy have been forcibly mobilized over the past few years, including hierarch. In September, His Grace Bishop Seraphim of Novorontsovsk became the second bishop to be detained for conscription. While some clerics have been released, others have been sent to the front lines.
Unlike clergy from other denominations in Ukraine, UOC priests don’t have official exemptions from conscription—another aspect of the targeted persecution of the Church.
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