CHANGES IN UKRAINIAN ORTHODOXY AFTER THE REVOLUTION OF DIGNITY: THE “RUSSIAN” CONTEXT

Abstrakt

Within the framework of the implementation of foreign policy employing “soft power”, the leadership of the Russian Federation traditionally assigns an important role to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). After the occupation of Crimea and the beginning of the armed conflict in Donbas, the ROC lost much of its direct influence on the situation in Ukraine. Under such circumstances, the new leadership of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) Moscow Patriarchate (MP) has taken on the key role in conveying messages to Ukrainian society favorable to the Kremlin. Initiating the distancing of the church from social processes in the state, the hierarchs of the UOC (MP) have simultaneously taken steps and made statements that, within the framework of Ukrainian-Russian confrontation, clearly demonstrate their support for the Russian point of view. In fact, despite the ongoing armed conflict in the east of Ukraine, the UOC (MP) has been able to maintain its position within Ukrainian Orthodoxy in terms of numbers. At the same time, the emergence of the local autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) in early 2019 marked a fundamental transformation in its religious landscape. The OCU was formed mainly from the UOC-KP (Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate) and the UAOC (Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church) which had not been canonically recognized by the world Orthodox Church, unlike the UOC-MP. Having received the Tomos from the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, the OCU became the only canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Within the two years following its formation, the OCU was recognized by three more Orthodox churches along with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and was included in their lists of the recognized Eastern Orthodox churches (diptychs). This accounts for the OCU’s promising prospects while it also signifies a loss of authority by the ROC as well as the growing threats it faces in terms of its weakened influence within world Orthodoxy.