Annual Report. PATRIARCHAL CURIA UGCC 2019

53 A special networking Congress of military chaplains "The Lord is my strength and my defense" (Ex. 15,2) took place in Kyiv on Dec 11-12, 2019. The congress included presentations of the service of military chaplain- cy in various units of the Armed forces, the activities of the Department of military chaplaincy, military chaplaincy in Canada, group work and lectures on the subject "Sophiological dimension of military leadership", joint prayers and spiritual conversations. A special training on "Tactical medicine" for 68 military chaplains of the UGCC (staff and reserve) was conducted by the Department on December 13, 2019 in Kyiv. The ministry of military chaplains visited the military units in 5 regions of Ukraine. These coordinated visits were held with the aim of improving a cooperation of the Church (military chaplains of the UGCC) with the state (chief commanders of military units at those places). Military chaplains in the units were provided with the necessary resources for their service: a prayer book "Pray and serve" (edited and reprinted of 1,000 texts), Church vestments for 50 military chaplains and necessary military uniform items for 10 chaplains. Over 2 000 persons took part in the annual pilgrimage organized by the Department of military chaplaincy to Zarvanytsia It is important for the soldiers, their families, officers and war veterans to pray together . The Department of military chaplaincy has been organizing since 2009 an annual pilgrimage to the largest Marian shrine in Ukraine — Zarvanytsia. The motto of this year’s pilgrimage was a quote from the book of Joshua: "Me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 24,15). The pilgrimage program was built around the subject of Christian family and Christian values, family as a model of Christ’s Church and a place of education, mutual understanding, rehabilitation of support and comfort of its members from the challenges and traumas of war, social dangers and ag- gression. In addition to the traditional spiritual and religious activities of the pilgrimage, the program included thematic trainings, groups of spiritual sharing and medical and psychologi- cal consultations of specialists. Over 2,000 persons took part in this year’s pilgrimage to Zarvanytsia — military, war veterans, students of military educational institutions, volunteers, families of military killed in combat.