Kňaz v rovnošate ozbrojených zložiek štátu

Abstract

The profession of a clergyman, a priest of a certain church corporation, regardless of the degree of his hierarchical affiliation, is one of the chosen „paths in life“. In addition to serving God, the priest is supposed to serve the people entrusted to him and lead them clearly to his knowledge. The profession of a priest working in the field of the armed forces and armed corps, included not only in the service of God and the Church, but also in the state service, is particularly demanding. The priest in uniform finds himself in situations confronting the spiritual interior of the individual with the outside world, its surroundings. The priest must therefore artfully reconcile the given ideological essence of the soldier’s or policeman’s personality with the reality for which he was prepared by professional education and training. The contradiction between idea and reality can be tangible especially in the conditions of experienced armed military or social confrontation. The values of peace are confronted with the purpose of war. That is when the priest’s mission in the armed forces of the state irreplaceable. The article aims to point out some connections between faced with this dilemma.