A Ukrainian priest who was drafted into the Ukrainian army this month and faces the prospect of front line military service, did not follow the instructions of his ecclesiastical superiors, according to a Friday statement from the Eparchy of Mukachevo.
Iconostasis at the cathedral, Holy Cross Cathedral, Mukachevo, Ukraine. Credit: Thalar Tamas/wikimedia. CC BY SA 3.0Fr. Andriy Stebivka, 38, was returning from a spiritual retreat outside of his eparchy when he was detained by recruitment officers on Oct. 12 and taken to a military training camp, according to initial reporting from EWTN.
That reporting stated that both the Bishop of Mukachevo and the Vatican’s diplomatic representative in the country were taking steps to ensure his release.
But an Oct. 23 statement on the eparchy website painted a different picture, and pushed back on the early EWTN reporting on the subject.
That statement said that initial reporting on the incident contained “assessments and interpretations that do not reflect the eparchy’s position and do not fully convey Fr. Andriy’s own understanding of the circumstances in which he finds himself.”
According to the statement, Stebivka did not follow eparchial instructions provided to clergy for
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