Religion in Ukraine: West and East

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Religion is a centuries-old and rather multifaceted concept. This is the meaning of life for the vast majority of believers. It so happened historically that Ukraine is a state assembled from different parts of the world. The same applies to the religion of the people living on these lands. It is believed that Catholicism prevails in western Ukraine, and Orthodoxy is the main religion in eastern Ukraine. However, in addition to these beliefs, you can find a huge number of other fragments of different cultures here.

Status of religion in the state

As in any civilized country, relations between the secular authorities and the government in Ukraine are enshrined at the legislative level: in the Constitution and individual national and international legal acts. According to these laws, every modern person has the right not only to freedom of speech and thought, but also to choose a religion. The activities of all religious institutions are also regulated separately. Among other things, all property issues of churches and parishes are legally fixed. Alsothe educational process, employment and distribution of clergymen have been established.

In general, religion in Ukraine in the 20th century has all the legal rights to exist and develop. It doesn't matter what religion people profess: Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism or Islam - everyone has the right to the same development.

Religion in Ukraine in numbers

Not so long ago, a report of the Ministry of Culture was published in official sources. It was devoted to the statistics of religious organizations operating in Ukraine. According to this report, there are more than 55 denominations in the country.

Christian religion in Ukraine is the most numerous. It includes representatives of the Moscow and Kyiv Patriarchates, the UAOC, the UGCC, and the Roman Catholic Church. All of them are placed with the total number of parishes and monasteries in descending order.

For example, the direction of the Moscow Patriarchate is the most numerous. There are more than 12,000 parishes and 190 monasteries here. The smallest can be called the Roman Catholic Church. Its parishioners can visit more than 900 parishes and 100 monasteries.

Presented in Ukraine and the Protestant direction. This is:

• Union of Baptist Christians (2500 organizations).
• Pentecostal Evangelists (1600 parishes).
• Seventh-day Adventists (1000 organizations).
• Jehovah's Witnesses (1000 congregations).

The question arises of what religions there are in Ukraine, in addition to Christianity and Protestantism. Of course, these are Judaism (about 280 organizations), Islam (1200 communities) and smallconfessional directions.

Orthodoxy

Kievan Rus, which included the territory of modern Ukraine in the Middle Ages, became the main focus of the formation of Christianity. And the first, most reliable documentary evidence of this process is The Tale of Bygone Years. This source tells in detail about the formation and first steps of Orthodoxy in Ukraine and Russia.

Prince Vladimir of Kyiv chose for a long time between the religions existing in the world before giving preference to Christianity. He pursued the goal not only to unite the scattered pagan lands, but also to create strong political ties with Western and Eastern states.

Orthodoxy turned out to be the best option. After all, Vladimir's grandmother, Princess Olga, was the first to bring this belief from Byzantium. When it was built the temple of Elijah the Prophet. Having married a Byzantine princess, Vladimir was baptized.

Today, what religion prevails in Ukraine is not a secret for anyone. Christianity was most difficult to plant in the outback and on the outskirts of the country, where the borders of other pagan states passed. However, in the end, the people accepted the merciful customs of faith in Christ.

Religion in Ukraine in the 19th century

Religion is something that has been formed over the years under the influence of a huge number of factors. Religion is a kind of politics. It was her that many rulers used to control their own people.

Religion in Ukraine in the 19th century was no exception. At that time, the country was divided between two warring states: Russia and the Austrian Empire. Religion became the lever with which it was possible to easily control the huge mass of believers. In the west, the Catholic church was used for this, and in the east, the Orthodox church. And each side tried to win parishioners to the side of the ruling monarchy.

Religion in Eastern Ukraine

According to many researchers, there are significantly fewer believers in this part of the country than in the western and central regions. The proportion of religiously minded people here is about 70%. Of course, as in other parts of Ukraine, these are predominantly women.

According to research on "Religion in Ukraine" from 2005, there were only 1 to 3 religious organizations per 10,000 inhabitants. At the same time, the least of them were in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which considers itself a member of the Moscow Patriarchate, has the absolute majority of parishioners. More than half of all believers in Eastern Ukraine belong to it. Less than 10% of parishioners belong to the Kyiv Patriarchate. Protestant movements are also quite developed here, namely Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, etc. Adherents of Judaism and Islamism can also be singled out separately.

Religion in Western Ukraine

According to many studies, believers are distributed throughout the stateunevenly. There can be a huge number of objective reasons for this: education, traditions, history, industrialization, etc. It is believed that the largest number of believers are in the western regions of Ukraine. Over 96% of residents there actively attend churches and parishes, observe religious canons and holidays.

Initially, the lands of Western Ukraine were under the patronage of the Vladimir-Volyn diocese, subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church. The first Catholic churches that are so common today appeared there at the end of the 13th century. And their spread was facilitated by frequent interventions from Lithuania, Poland, Austria-Hungary and other Western principalities.

Today, religion in Ukraine, in its western part, is represented in most of the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic churches. They are known for their more zealous attitude to faith and its canons than the ROC. A more active church policy made it possible to almost completely oust the Orthodox Church. To a greater extent, it is represented not by the Moscow Patriarchate, but by "schismatics" - the Kyiv confession.