Maxim Abramov is a Ukrainian army chaplain whom I was able to interview with the help of Ukrainian journalist Darina Rebro who served as my interpreter. We talked about his life as a soldier, the war and his way to God.
In 2014, when you are 16 years old, his town, Slovyansk, is occupied by pro-Russian forces for three months. Some compare the Russian occupation as a return to the Soviet Union.
I was not born in Soviet Union, and I can’t compare it to that, but I saw something unusual in society and fellowship in general because you could no longer express your opinion. Everything was controlled by force; in Soviet Union all was controlled by the Communist Party, but here the controlling institution was people from the lower strata of society who had weapons. Everything was created to control using fear. I remember that in 2014 it was not possible to have a healthy discussion, only force was valid and there were no other criteria, justice or human rights.
You found faith during the occupation. Were you a believer before that time?
I had no Christian background, and I knew Him culturally, but I never thought about God or church. In my community there was no one who could tell me about Him and there was no cultural heritage of Orthodox civilization. This was the consequence of the fact that in the past Soviet power did everything possible to destroy faith through propaganda. They said that people who spoke about God were madmen, sectarians or that they tortured children to sacrifice them…
My path for God started when I suffered from depression during the occupation. Three months later we were liberated, but no one could help me overcome the trauma of the occupation. To fill this void inside me, I first went to an Orthodox church of the Moscow Patriarchate, but they didn’t understand anything, and it didn’t work. Then I went to a Protestant church in 2015 and that’s where it all started.
However, before becoming a chaplain, you decided to enlist as a soldier. Why?
I accepted Christ in eight months and in the Church, they asked me where I wanted to serve. I didn’t know how to answer and was told I could sing in the choir, but the truth is that I wanted to do something substantial outside the walls of the church and in 2017 I started helping in a rehabilitation center for alcoholics and drug addicts. There I met a soldier who had fought at the Donetsk airport, and he told me about a chaplain who unfortunately died in battle. I realized his tragedy: this man had post-traumatic disorder, like me; he had no social life, like me; and he had problems with family and friends, like me. So, I understood that the soldier’s category was very similar to mine.
I entered a seminary to receive theological education to become a chaplain so I could properly help the soldiers, but, at the same time, I thought: how am I going to understand a soldier if I have not belonged to the army? A year later, in 2018, I received the letter to start my military service for a year and a half, but that service was nothing real, just training, so on my return home I decided to sign a contract with the “Donbas” battalion and became a professional soldier. After that, I entered the NCO school and reached the rank of sergeant.
The Russian invasion finds you at the front.
Yes, I was at the front when the full-scale invasion began. In May, while defending a front-line position, we came under artillery fire for over twelve hours. Just two meters behind me, a fellow soldier -call sign “Banker”- was hit in the neck by shrapnel and died instantly, but I was hit by smaller fragments which caused a serious wound in my arm. I was taken to a hospital in Bakhmut and the doctors told me it looked bad. I still don’t know how God saved my arm, but he did. I was transferred to Germany for rehabilitation and on my return home I was back in combat again. However, I was finally given the opportunity to become a military chaplain in December 2024. That was my path, which I consciously followed because when you choose to follow the calling you understand that you are much greater than just a tool in war. My calling in 2017 has made me become a brigade chaplain.
What are your duties as chaplain?
My main objective is to meet the spiritual needs of my fellow soldiers. A person is body, soul and spirit, and I work on the last two parts. There are very different people, but most of them are atheists, non-believers or agnostics, or people who doubt the existence of “something” and don’t know how to define it. My job as a chaplain is to be with them, to listen to them, and when possible and when they allow me, I talk to them about the Christian God because that is the mandate of my confession. The Orthodox heritage is familiar to many and when I say “God” they think of the icon of the church. With atheists I try to strike up a friendship and I employ a lot of humor: “How can a smoking person not believe in God?” As someone who has studied Apologetics, I have many arguments to prove the existence of Jesus and God, and I offer $200 to anyone who wants to argue with me. After a week everyone at least acknowledges the existence of Jesus as a historical figure, like Pontius Pilate or Napoleon, and many, in time eventually come to understand his divine nature. Most do not dare to continue and prefer to live in the comfortable bubble that has been created, but there are some who listen and accept Christ. My ministry in this context is to be with them, not to convert them, like the Samaritan who heals the wounds of a beaten person on the road.
What do your fellow soldiers ask of you?
Soldiers want me to listen to them. I experienced one of the most difficult times as a chaplain when a soldier called me to talk and I asked if I could call him back later. I tried several times, but he never answered. I later learned that he had taken his own life. Since then, I never put off phone calls, meetings or anything else. I also listen to and receive orders from the brigade command, and my job is to be a priest to soldiers and officers. Soldiers tell me their complaints, and I talk to the officers to try to resolve them. Another serious problem is the high divorce rate. When that happens and a soldier loses purpose in life, my task as a chaplain is to listen to him, react and talk to the command structures to deal with this situation. In the unit there are psychologists and social help, so I try to intercede for the soldiers with these structures. Some know me as a soldier, others as a chaplain, and that gives me authority; based on that authority I try to help the soldiers.
A Spaniard volunteer uploaded a video on X reading a Bible verse before going on a mission. According to him none of his fellow Ukrainians do it, but one of them says in the video, “In hell you need God.” Does war make people seek God more?
I have had many conversations and people are not looking for God now. They ask, “If God exists, why do we have this war?” They don’t understand the cause and consequence. Or they say he does exist, but he has abandoned us, “Where is God?” they ask. I don’t have to answer, I just have to be by their side and then it is easier to talk to them and make them see that if God has been forgotten, if He is not present in society or in the military, maybe we abandoned Him before. When I did my military service, I met an addict who had ended up on drugs because of the death of his mother. Seven years later, I visited a chaplains’ conference where there were about 300-400 people. This man came up to me and told me that we had served together and that I preached to him. That’s why I believe you have to preach the gospel like an archer, shooting arrows because you never know how far they will go. I am convinced that after the war the church will be much stronger, because when you lose your purpose in life is when you start looking for God.
Churches have to be open for soldiers and veterans, and that’s why we have formed a Christian community for veterans called “Covenity” to meet their needs, because after the war there will be very hard years ahead.
What does “Covenity” consist of?
The various Ukrainian churches do not want to forget their veterans and “Covenity” is a tool to give them a chance and accept them into the church. “Covenity” is a club of wounded and vulnerable people who have spent a long time in depression because of the war, people who have served or lost loved ones, and who after the war will need to be understood. Our community exists to offer them that understanding. I believe there has not been any similar initiative before in Ukraine or in the world, and in our country a new culture, a military culture, of veterans has developed, and those who have defended us must be defended.
Is it easier to be a soldier or a chaplain?
I want to go back to being a soldier (laughs).
An American documentary released this year, “A Faith Under Siege,” denounces Russia’s hidden war against Christians in the occupied zones. Do you know of cases of this religious persecution?
Yes, I know too many. In 2022, my friend Oleksandr Salfetnitkov, a pastor from Balakliia, was arrested in his house. He was tortured for two days and left semi-conscious in his church. He was the first tortured pastor of this war. Another case is that of Mark Sergeyev, a pastor from Melitopol, they threw him to the ground, put a gun to his head and told him they were going to kill him. The Russians also cut down the cross of his church. In the occupied Lugansk region several pastors were tortured by the security services to extract information because they were convinced that they received funds from the West and had all kinds of contacts. I have many other, less famous, acquaintances who live in the occupied territories and suffer this persecution. If you are a Protestant, it means you are a traitor working for the United States and Europe. The concept of the “Russian world” is a leftist neo-fascism.
Another well-known case happened in 2014, when two biological brothers were killed for being Protestants in their church on the orders of Strelkov (Igor Girkin). They were accused of being American sectarians who could not bring anything good to society because the only church is the Moscow Patriarchate, and the only God is the Russian God. This idea is as frightening as Hitler’s, but, unfortunately, in this case the world seems to have no intention of stopping it.
You are a few kilometers from the front; how do you face the reality of war?
With hope in Christ, that is my motto, and I repeat it to everyone. Tongues are forgotten and people perish, but Christ is the only one who can resurrect and that is why we place our hopes in Him. Christ suffered and we have to learn from his example, and know that if we do not suffer, we will not know how to help others who also suffer.
