UKRAINE: Clergy in the war: about the possible temporary postponement of mobilization
HRWF (29.03.2025) – On 26 December 2024 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine amended the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 27 January 2023 No. 76 “Some issues of implementation of the provisions of the Law of Ukraine On Mobilization Training and Mobilization regarding the reservation (granting a temporary deferment of mobilization) of persons liable for military service for the period of mobilization and for wartime.” According to the amendment, “clergymen according to the list of those approved by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) are subject to reservation.”
With these changes, religious organizations were officially ranked among the institutions which are essential for the functioning of the economy and for ensuring the livelihood of the population during this special period. As has been repeatedly noted, the mobilization of clergymen could cause the cessation of religious activities in numerous places of worship during their absence.
However, it took a considerable amount of time for the DESS to determine the list of clergymen eligible for reservation, the criteria and the mechanism for such dismissal. As Vyacheslav Gorshkov, Head of the Department for Religious Affairs of the DESS, noted in his interview in January 2025, that it was also necessary to think in details about the logistics for the implementation of the resolution, in particular to determine who will be entitled to be on the list reservations, keeping in mind the shortage of personnel at the DESS.
On 21 March 2025, the Order N H-21/11 of the DESS dated 5 February 2025 (registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 19 February 2025 under No. 263/43669) came into force, which establishes the criteria for determining a religious organization as essential for the functioning of the economy and ensuring the livelihood of the population in this special period.
According to this Order, a religious organization is recognized as essential if it simultaneously meets a number of criteria. Among them:
- a religious organization must be included in the Unified State Register of Enterprises, Institutions and Organizations of Ukraine by December 26, 2024;
- religious organization which is not included in the list of religious organizations in Ukraine affiliated (connected by one or more features defined by Article 51 of the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations“) with a foreign religious organization, the activities of which are prohibited in Ukraine;
- the Charter (Regulation) of the Religious Organization Has Not Lost Its Effect in Part of the Official Name;
- the location of the legal entity of the religious organization is not located on the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation;
- the religious organization is included in the Register of Non-Profit Institutions and Organizations;
- the religious organization has submitted a report on the use of income (profits) of a non-profit organization for the previous basic reporting (tax) period.
The list of positions of clergymen liable for military service, which are subject to reservation for the period of mobilization and wartime, includes clergymen, authorized to conduct religious services, rituals and ceremonies, preaching, corresponding to the following positions and criteria:
- the head of the religious center, administration;
- the deputy head of a religious center, who has has an employment contract with a religious organization;
- the head of a religious community, a monastery, a brotherhood, a missionary society, a theological educational institution;
- a clergyman who is an employee of a religious center, a community, a monastery, a brotherhood, a theological educational institution having an employment contract with a religious organization.
The law does not provide for the possibility of granting a deferment from mobilization to all clergy.
It seems that clergymen will be subject to the general rule that applies to other cessential enterprises and provides for the possibility of reserving no more than 50 percentof the total number of employees liable for military service.
The new legislation does not establish any restrictions on the list of officially operating religious organizations in Ukraine that can make reservations for clergy. However, apparently, representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox church (UOC) still in communion and affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church/ Moscow Patriarchate (ROC) do not fall under these criteria.
The requirements for the minimum wage of at least UAH 20,000, which is mandatory for other legal (non-religious) entities classified as essential in Ukraine, do not apply to clergymen of religious organizations.
The issue of reservation of clergymen liable for military service will be considered taking into account the filling of full-time positions of military chaplains in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, in accordance with the distribution of quotas of the confessional representation of military chaplains.
Order No. H-21/11 did not resolve the issue of exemption from mobilization of all clergy, although the first appeals from representatives of religious organizations on this issue took place back in 2022.
Students of educational theological institutions who have chosen the path of service in the clergy, as well as monks, are not included in the circle of persons who may have a deferment from mobilization.
It should be reminded that in Ukraine , only men who belong to 10 specified religious communities that the state recognised as pacifist were allowed to opt for alternative civilian service in peace time. These communities are: Reformist Adventists; Seventh-day Adventists; Evangelical Christians; Evangelical Christians–Baptists; “The Penitents” or Slavic Church of the Holy Ghost; Jehovah’s Witnesses; Charismatic Christian Churches (and associated churches under their registered statutes); Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith – Pentecostals (and associated churches under their registered statutes); Christians of Evangelical Faith; Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Believers of these denominations ask for the replacement of military duty for them with alternative non-military service but the current legislation of Ukraine does not provide for this possibility in the case of mobilization and martial law. Criminal liability is provided for evasion of mobilization. As a result, we can observe a steady increase in the number of convictions against persons who, due to their religious beliefs, consciously refuse to be mobilized.
In the coming days, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine is expected to make a decision about the constitutional complaint of the Seventh-day Adventist Dmytro Zelinsky, who asks to check for compliance with Part 4 of Article 35 of part one of Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine “On Alternative (Non-Military) Service” of December 12, 1991 No. 1975-XII, according to which: “alternative service is a service that is introduced instead of military service and is aimed at fulfilling a duty to society.”
Dmytro Zelinsky refused to be called up for military service during mobilization on grounds of his religious beliefs. He was prosecuted under Article 336 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and sentenced to 3 years in prison.
Dmytro Zelinsky believes that “the constitutional right to freedom of worldview and religion covers the right to alternative (non-military) service. Every citizen of Ukraine, whose military duty contradicts his religious beliefs, has the right to replace his military duty with alternative (non-military) service. At the same time, the state is obliged to ensure the implementation of this right.”