The Ukrainian Church originates from the formation of the Kiev Metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 988. In the XVII century, it came under the control of the Moscow Patriarchate, which was once established as a result of the activities of the Metropolitans of Kiev. Of the many church denominations, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has the highest number.
Religions in Ukraine
The main religion for most Ukrainian citizens is Orthodoxy. However, this does not negate the fact that in the country, in addition to Christianity, there are other beliefs: Judaism, Jessian Judaism, Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hinduism, Buddhism, neopaganism.
Christianity, which also consists of many other areas, is today one of the most popular religions. The number of his believers, according to various sources, totals more than 10 million people. A significant share is held by Protestantism (4.8 million). It is also worth noting that the Protestant church holds a 28.7% share among all believers in Ukraine. Other organizations have an average of 100,000 followers each.
Church Associations
According to the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”, all religious associations of the Ukrainian church do not participate in government and have their structures registered as independent legal entities. There are several dozen church communities in the country. The most significant of them are presented below.
- Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
- Ukrainian Church of the Kiev Patriarchate.
- Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church of Lviv. One of the most famous.
- Ukrainian autocephalous church.
- Ukrainian autocephalous church canonical.
- Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada. Many emigrants also know about her.
- Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA.
Most organizations are Orthodox.
Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate
You can’t talk about religion in Ukraine without a story about the history of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, because today it is the most popular among believing citizens in the country. It originates from the advent of Orthodoxy in Ukraine, as such. For a long time it was under the control of the Church of Constantinople, and it was ruled by the Greeks appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
In 1051 and 1147, the first attempts were made to gain independence by electing local metropolitans. In 1686, the Kiev Metropolis was completely removed from the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and transferred to the subordination of the Moscow Church, and later became the diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in general. At the beginning of the 20th century, unrest within the state power of the Russian Empire negatively affected the viability of the Russian Orthodox Church, reducing its influence.
Ukrainian Church in the USA and Canada
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada mainly consists of Ukrainians of Canadian origin. It has been in the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople since April 1, 1990, and its birth began in the cities of Sakatun and Saskatchewan in 1918. At the same time, the first cathedral and seminary opened in Sakatuna.
In the 1950s, it was possible to establish contact with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in other countries. Before that, it was called the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada. Winnipeg has its main administrative center. In his buildings liturgies are held in Church Slavonic, Ukrainian, English and French. In Canada, there are about 200 Orthodox Ukrainian churches.
In 1919, as a result of the civil war in Ukraine, several groups of emigrants arrived in the United States to form the Ukrainian Orthodox Union. As time went. After long changes and transformations, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States, as well as in Canada, began to be under the jurisdiction of Constantinople since 1995. In total, at that time there were 150,000 believers. The church is self-governing, its governing body is located in the Sound Bound Brook of New Jersey, divided into Eastern and Western dioceses.
Religious conflict
The Orthodox Church of the Ukrainian Patriarchate is divided into two branches: the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kiev Patriarchate. The first is fundamental, since it was formed much earlier - in 988. And today the church is subject to the charter of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Kiev Patriarchate, which arose in 1992, established as a result of the activities of Filaret, appeals to the origins of the Kiev Metropolitan and the Orthodox Church of Constantinople. Filaret did not agree that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was subordinate to Moscow. Therefore, I decided to secede. And still is the founder of the Kiev Orthodox Church since 1995.
The reason for Filaret's statements about the necessity and subsequent separation was the restructuring of the 1980s in the USSR, which led to a sharp aggravation of church-political relations. At a time when the power of the Soviet Union over the republics was weakened, in western Ukraine they decided to revive Greek Catholicism and the autocephalous religious community. Representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate could not influence the situation, in view of the unwillingness of the Ukrainian exarchate to resolve the conflict. As a result, this negligence led to a massive seizure of property of the Russian Orthodox Church in Western Ukraine.
A continuation of this disagreement can be considered the current situation of the Ukrainian conflict as a whole. It is known that between the Kiev and Moscow patriarchates, as one of the most influential, there was a struggle over a long period of history. Since 2016, in the West of Ukraine, the extremist organization Right Sector, banned in Russia, has forced the churches of the Moscow Patriarchate to come under the jurisdiction of Kiev by force. This fact was recognized even at the UN.
A little bit about Ukrainian church buildings
16 Ukrainian ancient wooden temples are included in the UNESCO heritage list, 8 of which are in Poland.
Of the most beautiful buildings, it is certainly worth noting the Kiev Temple of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, standing on the water, the Holy Assumption Pochaev Lavra, which amazes with its size or, for example, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin - an excellent example of Ukrainian and Elizabethan baroque, striking in its snow-white color.