The events that are taking place today in the church field of the Ukrainian State testify to the importance of the national church in building the national security of the country. The union of the church with the state has been formed for centuries, and to consider the absence of this tandem today would be wrong. However, such an alliance can be dangerous for the state if the church provokes separatism, ignites national conflict, undermines the national security of the state. Evidence of this is the aggressive policy of the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church towards Ukraine throughout history, which has turned the church into an instrument of political games. Thus, by annexing the Metropolitan of Kiev in 1686 and establishing a protectorate over the Ukrainian church space, the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church did everything to destroy the Ukrainian church tradition. History of Ukraine of the twentieth century testifies to the repeated attempts of Ukrainians to get out of the grip of the Russian Orthodox Church and build their own independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. A striking example of this is the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church Council of 1918, which, in the context of national competitions of the Ukrainian people for their own state, brought to the agenda of the revolutionary events the question of independence of the Ukrainian Church. At the second session of the Council, the idea of autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for the first time in many years consolidated a small part of the Ukrainian church and political elite around it. This article is devoted to analyzing the documents of this council session. The author tries to present the main stages of the competition for the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the difficulties that have arisen.
The article shows the involvement of the Vatican in the process of legalizing the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The classification of research shows the evolution of their development. The author notes that the illegal existence of the Greek Catholic Church in the Soviet Union was marked by a series of events and phenomena. They are classified in two categories. First – the tireless struggle of the clergy and the faith for family live, and second – a systematic struggle for the legalization of church. For the latter, the Ukrainian Greek Catholics wanted to engage the Vatican administration. In characterizing the historiographical base and relying on a wide range of research, the autor tries to show the changes in estimating Vatican’s involvement in resolving the crisis of the church in the Western regions of the Ukrainian SSR in the 1950’s – 1980’s. Thus, a large historiographical base reveals a wide range of opinions that reflects the participation of the various representatives of Vatican and of its administration in lobbying the legalization of the UGCC. This approach is related to the necessity of a critical reflection of the Soviet-Vatican relations in the late twentieth century, that of the impact Vatican on the revival of church life in the Soviet Union as a whole. As a conclusion, the article presents a view on a change in the Vatican’s Eastern policy during the late 1950s – 1980s. It shows different factors that affected the process. Special attention is given to those driwing the attention of the papal curia on the Ukrainian issues. These include the Second Vatican Council, the Metropolitan J. Slipyy’s release from prison, the emergence of information about the mass crimes of the Soviet government, the pontificate of John Paul II etc.
An integral part of society's life was and remains the church. Ukrainian church space was built on the heritage of generations and subsequently could become an integral element of the national revival of the Ukrainian people. In the twentieth century, it was clearly represented by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which was able to become the center of the national movement and the creator of the national intellectual elite, a promoter of justice in Soviet times. This article is devoted to the mission of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ukrainian society, the activities of its clergy and bishops in preserving the national identity of the Ukrainian people.
Socio-political transformations caused by the Ukrainian revolution of 1917–1921, made not only political issues relevant but also cultural and even ideological. In the struggle for statehood could not be ignored church problems that became very popular in society not in 1917, but only in 1918. It is this year that the autocephalous movement in the Ukrainian church space of the centre-region, whose members declared their desire to create a Ukrainian Orthodox Church independent of the Russian Orthodox Church, is appearing and actualized. The article reflects the process of Ukrainianization of liturgical life as an integral part of the autocephalous movement. An example of the activities of Ukrainian composers at the beginning of the 20th century shows their place in the creation of church works in Ukrainian, which became part of the spiritual heritage of Ukraine and the world. In addition, the authors point to the educational movement, which was caused by Ukrainianization of church life and its scale. The Ukrainian church tradition is the heritage of the Ukrainian people. It has been formed for centuries and belongs today to the national cultural heritage of the state. It is based on the spiritual experience of generations, which at the genetic level affects the formation of the mentality of the nation. This metaphysical process goes beyond the limits of human rationality and empiricity and is practically not always guided. Domestic cultural space of Ukraine was formed under the influence of various factors. One of them was the church. The place of the church in the life of the Ukrainian people, of course, should not be underestimated. Soviet historiography attempted to deny this fact, to interpret it in its own, ideologically atheistic dogmas, and order. However, from a historic retrospective, today we have a great opportunity to see that, to a large extent, it was in the church environment that we managed to preserve the original traditions of the Ukrainian people, its sacred legacy, language. The authors aim is to show the phenomenon of Ukrainianization of liturgical life in Ukraine in one of the most dramatic periods in the national history of the twentieth century. 1917 became the frontier in the modern history of Ukraine. Revolutionary events intensified the initiatives of the Ukrainian intelligentsia that long settled on the margins of social consciousness. Competitions for statehood brought to the general churchreligious issues. The All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church Council in 1918, which gave rise to political battles of the time, frankly testified to the presence in the Ukrainian society of the population who sought ecclesiastical autocephaly for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In this regard, the national idea was closely intertwined with the Christian tradition of the people, since the latter was firmly rooted in national culture. Despite all the difficulties that arose during discussions about the theme of the independence of the domestic church space from the Russian Orthodox Church, the Third, the last and the key, the session of the Council became the most significant for the Ukrainian church in the search for its own national identity. She was tried to show through the prism of various factors, in particular – spiritual music and liturgical ritual. Thus, a special Commission on Ukrainianization of the Liturgy was created, which considered the reform of church chants, which included both leading musicians and priests. An urgent issue that was discussed during the meetings of the commission on the Ukrainianization of liturgical life in the Ukrainian church was the introduction of universal church singing in Ukrainian churches. Ultimately, one of the key consequences of the church debate during the First All-Ukrainian Church Council was the question of Ukrainianization of the Ukrainian church in general and its clear separation from the Russian cultural space. Thus, analyzing the entire spectrum of socio-political processes at the end of 1917 – early 1919, we can state the fact that for the first time in many decades Ukrainians have had a real chance to declare themselves on the geographical and political map of Europe.
The paper is subjected to thorough analysis of the phenomenon of Ukrainian church space in the second half of the 16th century. We show how the church crisis has started in the Ukrainian lands and reveals socio-political and socio-cultural factors which triggered this crisis. In addition, we try to show how the international factor deepened it. We begin with analysis of how the political forces of the Rzeczpospolita tried to take a full control over the spiritual sphere of life of the Ukrainian people. Then we continue by showcase how Russian politicians together with the administration of the Russian Orthodox Church tried to do the very same thing. Caught in political and military machinery of these two different states priests and bishops of the Ukrainian church tried to build a model on their own of preserving their identity. In 1596 it resulted in the Union of Brest, which, on the one hand split Ukrainian society into two poles – the Orthodox and Uniates, and the other gave rise to serious reform Ukrainian church space. In general, we can conclude that the Union of Brest, despite the expectations and hopes of its organizers laid the beginning of a deep ideological confrontation among Ukrainian people. Union also resulted in serious cultural and political crisis. Supporters of the union have not received from Pope and Polish king protection of their rights and liberties. Religious conflicts became very difficult for the population. The polish politicians, the Catholic Church of Poland and Russians wanted to use Ukrainian crisis to implement his plans.
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