Twenty-two wounded Ukrainian soldiers recently visited the monasteries of Holy Mount Athos in Greece to escape the haunting memories of the battlefield, Reuters reports.
Among the soldiers—according to the report—was one with a head scar, another with both legs amputated above the knee, and some with invisible mental wounds from a three-year war defending their country against Russia.
They all took a bus more than 1,000 km (620 miles) from the Ukrainian city of Lviv to a monastery built on a cliff on Mount Athos.
Ukrainian soldiers make pilgrimage to Greece’s Mount Athos monasteries
In their four-day stay, part of a psychological support program organized by Ukrainian authorities, the soldiers made a pilgrimage to some dozen monasteries on the slopes of Mount Athos, a spiritual center since the 10th century.
“A lot of servicemen suffer from the events that took place over the last three years. A lot of them suffer from different illnesses—they are wounded, and we have to rehabilitate them,” Father Mykhailo Pasirskyi, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest who accompanied the men on their trip told Reuters.
Among the injured Ukrainian soldiers was Ivan Kovalyk. Reuters related the story of how he was seriously injured. He was taking a break on the front line in September 2023 when the soldiers who relieved him asked him to bring a radio, food and water. As he fetched the belongings, a shell exploded nearby. Kovalyk, 22, lost both legs below the knee and now walks on prosthetic limbs.
Fellow soldiers carried him across the uneven cobblestones and up the narrow staircases of the Athos monasteries. But generally, he walked without aid and remains positive about his condition.
“Of course, it helped a lot, because it helped me to relieve stress,” he said of the visit to Athos, which he plans to repeat.
Related: Lost Cell of Ukrainian Saint Paisius Discovered on Greece’s Mount Athos
“When I visited Athos, I felt God’s grace”
Athos has been a spiritual home of the Orthodox Church since Byzantine times. The area was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988. Some ancient customs abide: to this day, only men are allowed to visit.
The Russian Orthodox Church has long ties with Athos and in 2016 President Vladimir Putin visited to mark 1,000 years since Russian monks first settled there. But NATO member Greece has backed Ukraine in the war, souring relations with Moscow. The Ukrainian soldiers only visited Greek Orthodox sites.
“We already see that these days spent on Athos will replace at least a year of rehabilitation in Ukraine, in hospitals or other medical centers,” said Orest Kavetskyi, a Lviv regional official who helped organize the trip.
“When I visited Athos, I felt God’s grace, God’s blessing, the greatness of Athos,” he said per Reuters.
Related: Mount Athos in Greece Limits Pilgrim Numbers to Preserve Monastic Life
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