As part of the master's degree curriculum of the Don Theological Seminary, aimed at a group of students of a military pastoral profile, on March 13, 2025, the teaching of the discipline "Spiritual rehabilitation of combatants" began. The author's content of this course was developed by the rector of the Don Theological Seminary, Archpriest Timofey Fetisov.
The aim of the course is to train specialists in the shortest possible time who are capable of spiritual and therapeutic interaction with veterans of their military and active military personnel in their pastoral work in parishes, as well as in the care of military personnel.
The thematic plan of the discipline consists of three modules: "Spiritual and psychological aspects of participation in military operations", "Spiritual rehabilitation of participants in military operations, religiously oriented approaches and methodological principles" and "Psychological and clinical standards and methods in the spiritual rehabilitation of combatants".
Addressing the undergraduates in the introductory part of the lesson, Archpriest Timofey Fetisov noted: "Unlike the psychological approach, spiritual rehabilitation involves the restoration of the spiritual foundations of the human psyche, the return of faith in a higher meaning, the formation of new, more durable spiritual attitudes, the defragmentation of the split elements of moral consciousness, the revision of the emotional-volitional sphere, which helps to recreate the integrity of the soul, reconstruct the value system during interaction with the priest. Therefore, it is the duty of the Church to take care of organizing an effective spiritual rehabilitation program for soldiers, capable of healing their spiritual wounds caused by the bloody confrontation, restoring the meaning of life, the ability to trust and love, rejoice and thank, and build their future lives on a reliable foundation of faith."
The Master's program focuses on professional training of specialists in the field of interaction of the Church with executive, legislative and judicial authorities, municipalities, Cossack structures, the Ministry of Defense and the Federal Penitentiary Service.
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, a military clergy training program has been implemented at the Donskoy Theological Seminary since 2023. The Master's program "State-confessional Relations" contains a module of military-pastoral disciplines: "Spiritual rehabilitation of participants in military operations", "Church ministry in the Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies", "The Church in the context of information wars", "General military training", "Fundamentals of Geopolitics", "Military medicine and Psychology", "The history of the military clergy in Russia".