The emerging of the problem of moral ethical education of the servicemen was caused by an urgent need of the newborn Ukrainian state, which stood up on the ruins of the empire system with its nonhuman ideology directed to all which was contradictory to it. This completely concerns Ukrainian spirituality, which has for centuries been featured by high idealism, consideration of a human being as an image of God, but not as just a screw in the totalitarian governmental mechanism. During the three generation time period the Soviet ideology system failed to accomplish its mission completely. But it caused an unmanageable harm in the spiritual life of the nation, devoiding it of its traditional ethical features which have always been natural for the Ukrainian people. And it was reflected of course on the moral state of the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The main problem is filling the ideology vacuum, which was created during the transformation period of our society. The very period when we rejected the communist ideology thus taking away its status of a state one, and we took the direction for an independent, democratic, social-legal state.
Moral education plays a special role in the overall system of education of the servicemen. Morality is principles, rules, norms of peoples behavior, their customs, traditions, in which their attitude towards other people, the Motherland, the duty etc. is revealed. The morality is developed in every society for centuries, it is perceived and accepted differently by different people thus becoming some type of a custom, a stereotype of their behavior. The essence of moral education means formation of moral principles, ideals, attitudes, high moral qualities and skills of moral behavior.
There are two closelyconnected missions of the process of education. One of them is the formation of correct perception of norms and rules of moral behavior, the other is the formation of an inner need of their compliance and execution. The transformation of relationships based on principles of humanism and democracy requests changes of moral ideals and scope of modern youth, determination of ways of moral development of our society, choice of orientation marks for human values and priorities.
The more than 8-year long period of building the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as of a sovereign and independent state made arise difficult questions about creation and organization of a new system of education of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' personnel. Looking for a perfect system of education we found out that it is Christianity which embraces the needed basis of education most fully and harmonically. It creates not ideology but a system of values, which are the foundation of education. It is stipulated by the following: First, the Christian doctrine has acquired and saved a great experience of personal spiritual development, it embraces the moral values, the authenticity of which has been tested in practice. Second, from the thousands of years of the Christianity existence we find many examples of its useful social activity at important times for both the state and the army, when it served as a uniting idea of society. Third, today we see the increase of the religious level of society, youth, including the part of it that serves in the Armed Forces. Thus a poll of the young draftees called to active duty to the Air Defense in November-December 1998 showed 32.3% believers. Fourth, the Ukrainian Armed Forces accomplish missions everywhere in Ukraine, keep business, civilian, social, and religious relations with religious organizations and authorities which influence the education of servicemen. The moral education of servicemen is regulated by the same principles as the Ukrainian society. But at the same time it has some specific features. That is, the execution of moral norms of the servicemen is connected to missions on protection of the Motherland, and the national independence and the freedom of the nation depends on their compliance. It causes the stipulation of some of the moral norms in manuals, and the pledge of allegiance makes them a law.
For ages the traditional virtues of Ukrainian army were bravery, courage, nobility, knighthood, discipline, stamina. The soldiers of the Princes time, Cossacks,warriors of the first Ukrainian state and the WW2 heroes had all these features. These moral features grew from such always actual values: love to a neighbor, respect of parents and other people etc., i.e., those values, which were sanctified and tested by centuries long history of Christianity. Today we continue the noble tradition of a Christ-loving soldier. It is true that the troubles of soldier's life may plant cruelty in the heart, but only in that case when it is not filled with love. Sometimes a person feels lonely but in reality God is always with us. The words "God is with us" had alway been the motto of Cossacks.
The Armed Forces have some experience in cooperation with different religious organizations in the field of education. The majority of military units has established and is keeping useful relations with representatives of different confessions in stations. The priests are holding holiday liturgies, weekly Christian services and traditional debates on Christian moral. It was also found useful to attach representatives of religious organizations to units to do pastor's and religious work. The traditional religious participation in different military rituals such as pledge of allegiance, beginning of duty, attachment of a weapon etc. has been positively estimated by the servicemen and is positively influencing them.
On September 25th, 1999 a Constitutional Conference of the Military Christian Fellowship of Ukraine took place in Kiev. The head of it was elected major Vasiliy Khimich. Today the Fellowship is in its official registration stage Local organs of the Fellowship are in almost every region of Ukraine. Daily the servicemen and their family members are united in prayer for some specific need - this is done thanks to a monthly prayer chain "Kornylius Letter". Also issued are special radio programs for servicemen-christians (more than 40 programs already), the first newspaper issue of the Fellowship and is planned to be published in future. It all is the result of hard work among the military since 1996. The main goal of the fellowship is to spread the values of Christian moral and the Gospel of Jesus Christ among the servicemen and their family members, to unite people around the Word of God. Praising God and thanking ACCTS the fellowship got a possibility to study the work of existing mature Military Christian Fellowships abroad and thus gain useful experience. Having been registered the MCF of Ukraine will be glad to join the big family of AMCF knowing that already "we are all one in Christ". We also keep in mind the fact that the change in attitude towards religion, its participation in soldier's education requests certain level of knowledge of the history of religion and about basic confessions, which act in the station areas of our troops. An important role in formation of a healthy moral-psychological climate is played by propaganda of tolerance and compatibility between soldiers of different confessions in one unit.
The highest sign of nobility and knighthood is the compliance to the requests of military discipline. Today the authorities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are concerned with this problem. There are some violations in the ranks or the Armed Forces. And that is why we are working hard in strengthening military discipline, and the Church could help us in this very field. The experience shows: the state of military discipline greatly depends on teaching the youth before it's drafted the Christian moral norms, such as commandments to "love your neighbor as yourself", " thou shalt not kill", "thou shalt not steal". Many years later we come back to them. And the life shows that we're doing it just on time.
Today the power of modern armies doesn't that much depend on the level of technological equipment and professional skills of the servicemen, but first of all, on the fighting spirit of the soldiers. Because the equipment and materiel are characteristics of defense capability and are also the result of human activity, and it is the people who are supposed to make decisions on how and when to use it. The moral factor is of great importance here and neglecting it may cause fatal consequences for the army. Formation of Motherland defender's personality cannot be separated from formation of his spirituality the basis for which are ethical dignity and personal moral principles, i.e. perception and practical utilization of historical and cultural heritage, spiritual values of one's nation including the Christian ones. As Ukraine builds its sovereignty, the real union of society is impossible without its values founded on profound perception of spiritual and material culture. The process of a soldier's spirituality formation is complex, and it is achieved by joint efforts of commanders and educators using different forms and methods of work and means to implement them.
We understand that the period of service in the Armed Forces is the final stage of formation of a citizen, a patriot devoted to the Motherland is done. But it also has to be kept in mind, that Ukraine doesn't currently have complete system of national education and has to solve inherited problems. The mission of education is getting more complicated due to the low level of national dignity and patriotic attitude of the draftees and servicemen, absence of elementary knowledge on Ukrainian history, its culture and traditions.
Now, under the crisis undergone by our state, a growing number of servicemen address religion that has great experience in fighting evil in social relations field as well as in a soul of a person. This valuable experience was gained by hundreds of generations and it would not only be nonethical, but also not wise to reject it. We must show our youth the moral heights, which existed for centuries, the eternal truths, which do not require corrections and substitutions. The violent abstraction of them from our life caused tragic consequences: poverty and spiritual degradation of the nation.
It is out of the question that there are many problems for the cooperation between the Church and the army. But we are united by one thing - the desire to revive the spirituality of our nation, give back the human values of the civilization to the youth.
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