After serious injury on battlefield, fighting war priest returns to Kola Peninsula
Ultra-conservative and militant clergyman Sergei Cherichenko, who normally serves in a naval infantry base on the Kola Peninsula, is back from occupied land where he was seriously wounded in battle.
"What a joy! Our dear Father Sergii Cherichenko is back in his home church! Praise God for everything!" a social media post from the church reports.
The priest, who normally serves in Sputnik, the base of the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade, recently returned to the Kola Peninsula after many months on occupied Ukrainian land.
Photos show the priest pale and significantly slimmer than before.
Reportedly, Cherichenko was seriously wounded on the battlefield and has undergone treatment in a military hospital.
"Father Sergii was seriously injured, but God saved him from death. We thank the Lord for this! We sincerely wish Father Sergii a speedy recovery!" a social media post from a congregation in Severomorsk, the headquarter city of the Northern Fleet, reports.
"For several years, he performed his pastoral duties on the territory of the Special Military Operation, providing spiritual guidance to soldiers and staying with them on the front lines."
Cherichenko is believed to have been deployed in occupied parts of the Kherson region together with forces from the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade.
Since early 2023, he is believed to be serving on the frontline with a weapon in his hands.
Sergei Cherichenko is a close associate of regional Metropolitan Mitrofan. He is a keen kickboxer and heads the Murmansk regional diocese's department of physical education and sports. Metropolitan Mitrofan is leader of the Moscow Patriarchate's Sports Commission.
The church in Sputnik, along with all congregations in the military towns on the Kola Peninsula, are part of the diocese of Severomorsk.
The diocese is headed by Bishop Tarasii, a strong supporter of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Over the past more than 3,5 years of full-scale war, Tarasii has sent at least seven of his regional priests to occupied territories to serve, among them father Cherichenko.
In addition comes Oleg Denichenko, the priest from Zapolyarny who was awarded a medal for his service. Leonid Suloyev normally works in Oleniya Bay, the naval base that houses Russia’s notorious Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research (GUGI). Sergei Sherfetdinov works in Vidyaevo and Ura-Guba and also heads the missionary department of the diocese. Aleksandr Zaitsev and Artur Zaiko serve at the naval bases of Zaozersk and Gadzhievo respectively
In the wake of the full-scale onslaught on Ukraine in 2022, the Russian Orthodox Church significantly strengthened its cooperation with the Armed Forces. The Church’ so-called Synodal Department for Interaction with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies today includes hundreds of priests serving on occupied land.
Leader of the department is Metropolitan Kirill (Pokrovsky). In a recent conference, the high-ranking clergyman emphasised that military priests are part of the war.
"A priest in a combat zone is not an outside observer, but a person who shares all the hardships and dangers with the soldier. Our task today is to ensure that this assistance is systematic, profound and covers every unit," the metropolitan said.
According to the church, up to 25 priests are at any given time working in the war zone. They serve for periods of 2-4 weeks at the time, Patriarch Kirill said in late 2022 in a meeting with military clergymen that had returned from duty.
It is not clear if Sergei Cherichenko will return to the battlefield in Ukraine after recovering from the injury. According to the combatant priest from Sputnik, there is a need for people like him also in the North, on the border to Norway and Finland.
“A unique feature about church service on the northern boundaries of Russia is an emphasis on the strengthening of a spiritual forward position on the border to Europe in a strategically important neighbourhood to NATO,” he wrote in a social media comment .
