"I'm here to improve how we serve people": A priest from Volyn on his calling, drones, and training for the clergy

He describes himself simply as an ordinary priest from Volyn. Father Oleh Mytsko has served for seven years in the village of Krymne, Kamin-Kashyrskyi district. The priesthood runs in his family: his eldest brother became a priest, and so did his middle brother.

"I never really asked myself what I wanted to become. I always knew this was my path," Father Oleh says.

His parishioners come to him with grief, illness, family difficulties, addictions, and serious diagnoses. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, new questions have emerged — questions about how to keep living when families are waiting for loved ones at the front, and when some of them never return.

Father Oleh realized that good intentions alone were not enough.

"I understood that I didn't have the knowledge to provide the kind of support people needed. I wanted not just to avoid doing harm, but to genuinely help. I tried to do that intuitively, but I knew I was missing important knowledge."

His search for that knowledge began with courses in medical chaplaincy.

"First of all, I wanted to understand myself. Because when I understand myself better, I can support other people better."

Later, he learned about the Eleos-Ukraine training program through a clergy group where information about the sessions was shared, as well as from Serhiy Kyryliuk, Vice-Rector of the Lviv Orthodox Theological Academy, who encouraged him to apply.

Father Oleh has since completed two training sessions: psychological first aid with Tetyana Rudenko and working with trauma and PTSD with Iryna Raspopina.

Father Oleh is clear that two days cannot provide everything a priest needs to know about psychological trauma. But even two days can change the way you see and understand another person. He compares it to understanding how a car works.

"If you understand the mechanics of a car and how it functions, you have a better idea of what has gone wrong and what needs to be done. It's similar with people. When you understand what may be happening inside a person, you can talk to them once, twice, three times — and gradually understand how best to support them."

That knowledge has very practical applications in a community living through war.

When a drone flies nearby and someone comes to him frightened and disoriented, Father Oleh now feels better prepared to respond — to understand the person's emotional state, provide initial support, and recognize when additional professional help may be needed.

Father Oleh also believes that the relationship between clergy and their communities has changed.

"There was a time when the village head, the priest, and the teacher were considered the educated people in a community. Today, people are much more educated themselves. It's no longer enough simply to tell someone, 'Pray more.'"

For him, this does not diminish the importance of faith. Instead, it means clergy need to understand the whole person.

"You need to find an approach that allows you to truly reach someone — and only then can you plant the seed of faith. These training sessions help us understand not only a person's spiritual condition, but also their emotional state, so that we can support them holistically."

For Father Oleh, the purpose of continuing to learn is ultimately straightforward: to improve the quality of how clergy work with people and to be better prepared to support those who turn to them for help.

The project "Clergy and Communities in Support of Mental Health: Innovative Support Practices During the War in Ukraine" is implemented by Eleos-Ukraine in partnership with DanChurchAid and Norwegian Church Aid in Ukraine, with financial support from the Government of Norway (NORAD), in cooperation with the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy and the Lviv Orthodox Theological Academy.