Ukrainian priests baptize 13 ill children in combat zone

Chaplains of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church celebrated the sacrament of Baptism on Thursday for several sick children, during a mission in the ATO combat zone, reports the site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The thirteen children baptized are all pupils of a boarding school for children with lung diseases. The head of the military division of the Diocese of Alexandria Archpriest Alexander Shnyakin, along with the head of pastoral care for soldiers Archpriest Vyacheslave Yakovenko visited two boarding schools for children with disabilities and pulmonary diseases in Kreminna and Shchastya in the Lugansk Province on December 21.

The two priests taught the children about the basics of Orthodoxy, and then, at the request of the students themselves, they celebrated the holy sacrament of Baptism for those who had not yet been baptized. The priest gave each of the thirteen new members of the Church of Christ a cross, explaining its significance for Christians.

All of the children were also given candy and clothes. 

Source: Ukranian Orthodox Church