Social and humanitarian activities of churches and religious organizations during the russian-ukrainian war

Abstract

The article examines the social and humanitarian activities of Christian churches, their charitable and volunteer activities, influence on the process of educating the young generation and participation in the formation of civil society in the conditions of modern Ukrainian reality.
Methodological approaches that are optimally suited for effective finding and systematization of scientific information, as well as for identifying the relevance of the chosen scientific problem, came in handy when working on the topic. Cultural, systemic and value approaches were chosen to investigate the problem. The fundamental principles in the work were the principle of historicism, objectivity, complexity and comprehensiveness. In the context of this study, the use of the specified principles made it possible to determine and analyze the transformation of the activities of church institutions in the conditions of the war in Ukraine.
Studying the areas of activity of Christian denominations allows us to outline the priorities and results of their work with adults, children and youth in the conditions of the Russian war in Ukraine. Churches use both traditional and modern forms of work. The traditional ones include worship, sacraments, catechism, spiritual guidance, involvement of children and youth in charity events. Modern ones include social projects, programs, the use of film, television, and the Internet, the creation of youth groups, clubs, public, religious, charitable, and sports organizations. The activity of military chaplains, who currently number more than 350, is highly appreciated. Ukrainian churches are participants in the world scouting movement. Scouts organize projects aimed at providing assistance to victims of military operations, primarily to internally displaced persons. The desire to help the needy led to the creation of joint social and humanitarian projects of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the International Charity Fund «Caritas – Ukraine». In most regions, there are youth teams that are part of Christian churches and that are engaged in volunteering, charitable activities, prevention of current problems. Social and humanitarian projects are carried out both at the all-Ukrainian and at the parish level. Christian churches of different denominations cooperate with each other in the social and humanitarian sphere for the purpose of preventing the degradation of social relations, the manifestation of humanism and patriotism of the population, and the unity of the nation due to Russian aggression. The use of the experience of social and humanitarian activities of the Church is a harmonious combination of structural, functional and theoretical models, the priority of moral education, nurturing of humanism and patriotism.
The issues of the forms of social work of Christian churches in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war have not yet been sufficiently covered in the works of modern researchers. The authors only touch on some aspects of their work. In fact, the missionary activity of the Catholic and Protestant churches, coverage of work with youth, and joint projects with scouting organizations remain outside the attention of the scientific community. Therefore, we consider the outlined directions as priorities for modernization and further understanding of the role of the Church in the process of education, the connection between Christian culture and Ukrainian educational traditions, and guardianship of the morality of society in Ukraine.