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Introduction. Religion in Ukraine: Political and Historical Entanglements

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Introduction. Religion in Ukraine: Political and Historical Entanglements Guest editor: BALTIC Yuliya Yurchuk WORLDS The role of religion in the Ukrainian political landscape special section Introduction. Religion in Ukraine: political and historical entanglements kraine usually becomes the — called the Tomos — was given by the Ecu- be tackled in the articles. On this note, I focus of the international menical Patriarch of Constantinople to should add an important disclaimer: it is media and lively scholarly the newly established Orthodox Church not spirituality and religious belief as such U interest when it undergoes of Ukraine. Thus, in 2019 the world wit- that are in the focus of this special section. some tremendous political and societal nessed the birth of one more Orthodox The purpose of this discussion is to put changes. Sufce to mention the year 2004 Church, a rare event in church history. the question of religion into the focus of when the Orange revolution was on front The whole discussion on religion in the studies which approach diferent as- pages all over the world, or 2013-2014 Ukraine, however, cannot be restricted pects of Ukrainian reality today and show when mass protests — now known as the how an analysis of an intricate interplay Euromaidan Revolution — followed by between religion, politics, and society can the Russian annexation of Crimea and “IN 2019 THE help us better understand this reality. the continuing war in Donbas came into WORLD WITNESSED 1 Religious affiliation the spotlight worldwide. What happened THE BIRTH OF ONE in Ukraine in the years 2018 and 2019 in numbers drew considerably less attention both in MORE ORTHODOX According to the sociological survey international media and among scholars, conducted in 2018, about 72% of respon- CHURCH, A RARE although historically these years are no dents declared themselves as believers.2 less remarkable than the years of mass EVENT IN CHURCH Compared with the number of believers unrests and regimes changes. HISTORY.” in previous years, the overall number The year 2018 became a turning point decreased somewhat from 76% in 2014, not only in the church history of Ukraine simply to the questions of Orthodoxy. To but religious leaders continue to enjoy but, more broadly, in the history of world grasp the scale of religious life of Ukraine the highest level of trust within Ukrainian Orthodoxy. In 2018 all ofcial prepara- we should broaden our perspective and society.3 Among believers, the most nu- tions were completed for the Orthodox look at the country from a bird’s eye view. merous are Orthodox Christians (67.3%); Church of Ukraine to become an inde- In this introduction I want not only to 9.4% of respondents declared that they pendent church in communion with all introduce each article that comprises this belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic other Orthodox churches in the world. special section but also to describe the Church; 2.2% said they are Protestants; On January 5, 2019, the ofcial document religious situation in Ukraine, to give read- and 0.8% attend the Roman Catholic that grants the church’s independence ers a better grasp of the context which will Church; 0.4% belong to Judaism.4 Baltic Worlds 2020, vol. XIII:2–3 Special section: The role of religion in the Ukrainian political landscape 70 introduction PHOTO: UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE PRESS PRESIDENTIAL UKRAINIAN PHOTO: The former president of Ukraine, Pyotr Poroshenko, and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. According to the Ukrainian census, 0.9% eled to Greek colonies about 2,000 years Jewish community is well-organized and of the Ukrainian population follow Islam.5 ago.6 But it was in the 13th century that is especially active in memory politics in Less than 1% said that they follow other the Ashkenazi Jewish presence became relation to the Second World War and the religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism or signifcant here. Noteworthy is the fact remembrance of the Holocaust victims. Paganism. In the previously mentioned that in the 18th century a new teaching Two big organizations represent the sociological survey a further 11.0% de- of Judaism — Hasidism — originated in Jewish community in Ukraine: the VAAD clared themselves non-religious or unaf- the Ukrainian lands. The signifcance of of Ukraine (Association of Jewish Civic fliated to any religion. Ukraine as the place where Hasidism was Organizations and Communities) headed From the information above we can established is difcult to overestimate, as by the Soviet era dissident Josef Zissels, see how religious afliation is distributed hundreds of thousands of contemporary and the United Jewish Society of Ukraine among the population. We see that three Hasidim come on pilgrimage to Ukraine headed by the oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi. main religions — Christianity, Islam, and to worship the memory of Rebbe Nach- The latter organization has an impressive Judaism — which were present in the terri- man, the founder of Breslov Hasidism, cultural center in the city of Dnipro — Me- tory of the present-day Ukraine through- at his grave in Uman (a town in Central norah — located in a huge building with a out the centuries are not distributed even- Ukraine). During the Second World War museum and the Tkuma research center ly. Despite the diferences in numbers of the Jewish population was exterminated which serves as a platform for academic believers, however, all these religions and in the Holocaust, leading to a total change conferences and as a publishing house for the religious organizations that represent of the cities’ demographical outlook: Be- studies on Judaism in Ukraine. them play an important role in the societal fore the war, a third of the biggest cities’ life of the country, with their leaders com- populations were of Jewish origin (15% of LOOKING AT ISLAM, it was the Golden menting on all political changes and dis- the population in the territory which is Horde (which at that time occupied a cussing the country’s future perspective. now Ukraine were of Jewish origin before signifcant part of the territory of present the Second World War).7 Nowadays Jews Ukraine and adopted Islam as the state Religions in Ukraine from comprise only 0.2% of the population of religion in 1313) and the Ottoman Empire a historical perspective Ukraine (according to the census in 2001 (which conquered some of these ter- Judaism appeared in the lands which are or 0.4% according to the Razumkov sur- ritories in the 1470s) that brought Islam now Ukraine when Jewish traders trav- vey in 2018). Although not numerous, the to these lands. Crimean Tatars accepted introduction 71 Islam as the state religion of the Golden UOAC and the UGCC were banned (the That year, Metropolitan Job of Moscow Horde (1313–1502), and later ruled as vas- UOAC was permitted up to 1930 and the became the frst Patriarch of Moscow and sals of the Ottoman Empire (until the late UGCC was forced to unite with the ROC in All Rus’ (hence, “Kyiv” disappeared from 18th century). During the Second World 1947; many priests of these churches were the title). War, in May 1944, the entire Crimean repressed or moved to the US or Canada Parallel to these events, in 1458 in Tatar population in Crimea was deported where they were active in diaspora).12 Kyiv (then the part of the Grand Duchy of by the Soviet authorities on charges of When the UOAC and UGCC were re-es- Lithuania) the Rus’ Orthodox Church was collaboration with the Nazi regime. Those tablished in Ukraine in the late 1980s and established which was under the jurisdic- who survived the hard conditions of the early 1990s, the revival of these churches tion of the Ecumenical See. In 1686 it was deportation resettled in Uzbekistan and was closely connected to the national transferred to the jurisdiction of Moscow. other republics of the Soviet Union. Many revival.13 The same can be said about the In such a way, from 1686 up to the 20th of the deported Crimean Tatars returned UOC-KP which appeared as consequence century, Orthodox Christians in the lands to Crimea in the late 1980s and early of the state’s independence. which are now Ukraine belonged to the 1990s.8 As mentioned above, Church under the jurisdic- only about 1% of population tion of Moscow. When the in Ukraine are Muslims. Most “THE SIGNIFICANCE OF Ecumenical Patriarchate, of them lived in Crimea where UKRAINE AS THE PLACE WHERE Bartholomew I of Constanti- they comprised about 15% of nople, granted autocephaly the population.9 Many of them HASIDISM WAS ESTABLISHED IS to the Orthodox Church of had to move from Crimea DIFFICULT TO OVERESTIMATE, Ukraine (OCU) in January 5, after the Russian annexation 2019, it was exactly the trans- of the peninsula. They created AS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS fer of 1686 that was annulled. their own centers in big cities OF CONTEMPORARY HASIDIM Although the president of and play an important role in Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, COME ON PILGRIMAGE the political and cultural life tried to present the church of the country.10 Nowadays, TO UKRAINE.” independence gained during there are approximately 150 his presidency as his own mosques in Ukraine. There is no single It is between the Orthodox churches victory, in reality, several factors came administrative center which represents all that the most tensions exist today. These into play that fnally resolved the fate of Muslims in the country; instead there are tensions are often framed through histori- the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. These fve diferent Muslim organizations with cal narratives which are worth mention- factors include the political will inside diferent political interests and agendas. ing in more detail.14 Ofcially, the year 988 the country and the tensions in relations is marked as the year when the Christian between Orthodox churches in the world AS STATED ABOVE, Christianity is a major- religion came to Kyiv Rus’, when Prince that were caused by the Russian policy ity religion in Ukraine.
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