Religion in Ukraine

Religion in Ukraine is diverse, with a majority of the population adhering to Christianity. A 2018 survey conducted by the Razumkov Centre found that 71.7% of the population declared themselves believers. About 67.3% of the population declared adherence to one or another strand of Orthodox Christianity (28.7% of the Kiev Patriarchate, 23.4% state simply 'Orthodox' with no declaration as to which Patriarchate they belong to, 12.8% of the Moscow Patriarchate, 0.3% Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and 1.9% other types of Orthodoxy), 7.7% 'Christian' with no declared denominational affiliation, 9.4% Ukrainian Byzantine Rite Catholics, 2.2% Protestants and 0.8% Latin Rite Catholics. Judaism was the religion of the 0.4%; while Buddhism, Paganism (Rodnovery), and Hinduism were each the religions of 0.1% of the population. A further 11.0% declared themselves non-religious or unaffiliated.[1] According to the surveys conducted by Razumkov in the 2000s and early 2010s, such proportions have remained relatively constant throughout the last decade, while the proportion of believers overall has decreased from 76% in 2014 to 70% in 2016 and 72% in 2018.[1][2] (p. 22).

Religion in Ukraine (2018)[1]

  Eastern Orthodox (67.3%)
  Greek Catholic (9.4%)
  Latin Catholic (0.8%)
  Unspecified Christian (7.7%)
  Protestant (2.2%)
  Unaffiliated (11.0%)
  Jewish (0.4%)
  Buddhist (0.1%)
  Hindu (0.1%)
  Pagan (0.1%)
  Other religion (0.1%)
  Unanswered (0.9%)
The Annunciation Cathedral in Kharkiv is one of the tallest Orthodox churches in the world. Its construction was completed in 1888.

As of 2018, Christianity was particularly strong in westernmost Ukrainian regions, where most Greek Catholics lived. In central, southern and eastern regions, Christians constitute a smaller proportion of the total population, particularly low in the easternmost region of Donbass.[2] Another religion that is present in Ukraine besides Christianity is Rodnovery (Slavic native faith), which comprises Ukrainian- and Russian-language communities (some Rodnover organizations call the religion Православ'я Pravoslavya, "Orthodoxy", thus functioning in homonymy with Christian Orthodox churches).[3][4] Hinduism has been spread after the collapse of the Soviet Union by Indian and International Society for Krishna Consciousness' is particularly present in the Donbass region.[2] Crimean Tatars professing Islam represent a significant part of the population in Crimea, which prior 2014 was a subject of Ukraine, but has been since that year occupied by Russia. As of 2016, without Crimea, where Muslims formed 15% of the population in 2013,[5] only Donbass maintains a larger community of Muslims compared to other Ukrainian regions (6%).[2]

Since before the outbreak of the War in Donbass in 2014, but even more violently so from that year onwards, there has been unrest between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian religious groups in the country.

History
Saint Sophia's Cathedral, Kiev is a UNESCO World Heritage Site[6]

In pre-historic times and in the early Middle Ages, the territories of present-day Ukraine supported different tribes practising their traditional pagan religions (though note for example the Tengrism of Old Great Bulgaria in the Ukrainian lands in the 7th century CE). Byzantine-rite Christianity first became prominent about the turn of the first millennium. Later traditions and legends relate that in the first century CE the Apostle Andrew himself had visited the site where the city of Kiev would later arise.[7]

In the 10th century the emerging state of Kievan Rus' came increasingly under the cultural influence of the Byzantine Empire. The first recorded Rus' convert to Eastern Orthodoxy, the Princess Saint Olga, visited Constantinople in 945 or 957. In the 980s, according to tradition, Olga's grandson, Knyaz (Prince) Vladimir had his people baptised in the Dnieper River. This began a long history of the dominance of Eastern Orthodoxy in Ruthenia, a religious ascendancy that would later influence both Ukraine and Russia. Domination of Little Russia by Great Russia (from 1721) eventually led to the decline of Uniate Catholicism (officially founded in 1596) in the Ukrainian lands under Tsarist control.

Judaism has existed in the Ukrainian lands for approximately 2000 years: Jewish traders appeared in Greek colonies. After the 7th century Judaism influenced the neighbouring Khazar Khaganate. From the 13th century Ashkenazi Jewish presence in Ukraine increased significantly. In the 18th century a new teaching of Judaism originated and became established in the Ukrainian lands - Hasidism.

The Golden Horde (which adopted Islam in 1313) and the Sunni Ottoman Empire (which conquered the Ukrainian littoral in the 1470s) brought Islam to their subject territories in present-day Ukraine. Crimean Tatars accepted Islam as the state religion (1313–1502) of the Golden Horde, and later ruled as vassals of the Ottoman Empire (until the late 18th century).

During the period of Soviet rule (c. 1917–1991) the governing Soviet authorities officially promoted atheism and taught it in schools, while promoting various levels of persecution of religious believers and of their organizations. Only a small fraction of people remained official church-goers in that period, and the number of non-believers increased.

The 20th century saw schisms within Eastern Orthodoxy in Ukrainian territory.

Demographics

As of 2018, according to a survey held by the Razumkov Center, 71.7% of the total respondents declared to be believers, while 11.5% were uncertain whether they believed or not, 5.3% were uninterested in beliefs, 4.7% were unbelievers, 3.0% were atheists, and a further 3.7% found it difficult to answer the question. A 2018 survey conducted by the Razumkov Centre found that 71.7% of the population declared themselves believers. About 67.3% of the population declared adherence to one or another strand of Orthodox Christianity (28.7% of the Kiev Patriarchate, 23.4% just Orthodox, 12.8% of the Moscow Patriarchate, 0.3% Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and 1.9% other types of Orthodoxy), 7.7% just Christians, 9.4% Greek Rite Catholics, 2.2% Protestants and 0.8% Latin Rite Catholics. Judaism was the religion of the 0.4%; while Buddhism, Paganism and Hinduism were each the religions of 0.1% of the population. A further 11.0% declared themselves non-religious or unaffiliated.[1]

Among those Ukrainians who declared to believe in Orthodoxy, 42.6% declared to be members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kievan Patriarchate, while 19.0% declared to be members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscovian Patriarchate. A further 0.5% were members of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Among the remaining Orthodox Ukrainians, 34.7% declared to be "just Orthodox", without affiliation to any patriarchate, while a further 2.8% declared that they "did not know" which patriarchate or Orthodox church they belonged to.[2]

It is important to note that the Orthodox Church of the Kyevan Patriarchate is considered schismatic and doctrinally errant and ethnophyletic by the Orthodox Church of the Moscovian Patriarchate (officially called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church) and is not recognised as part of the broader Eastern Orthodox Church.[8]

Beliefs
Changes over time and region in the proportions of people in Ukraine identifying themselves as believers, etc.[2]
Whether you attend church or not, who do you think you are? Ukraine 2016 survey split by region
2000 2010 2013 2014 2016 West Centre South East Donbass
Believers 57.8% 71.4% 67.0% 76.0% 70.4% 91.0% 73.5% 65.7% 55.6% 57.2%
Those who hesitate between belief and disbelief 22.5% 11.5% 14.7% 7.9% 10.1% 4.7% 7.3% 8.3% 14.2% 19.5%
Not a believer 11.9% 7.9% 5.5% 4.7% 6.3% 0.9% 4.8% 7.4% 13.4% 7.2%
Atheist beliefs 3.2% 1.4% 2.0% 2.5% 2.7% 0.2% 2.6% 3.2% 3.5% 5.0%
Do not care 2.6% 4.4% 5.1% 4.9% 7.2% 1.2% 8.0% 13.0% 7.3% 9.4%
Difficult to answer 2.0% 3.3% 5.7% 3.9% 3.9% 1.9% 3.8% 2.3% 5.9% 1.6%

Beliefs and religions
Whether you attend church or not, who do you think you are? % of respondents
Ukraine [2] Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)[9] Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate)[9] Other Orthodox[9] Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church[9] Just Christian[9] Other denominations[9] Do not belong to any religion[9]
Believers 70.4% 88.1% 88.5% 74.1% 96.9% 55.2% 89.2% 11.8%
Those who hesitate between belief and disbelief 10.1% 5.9% 7.1% 12.5% 3.1% 20.3% 3.2% 14.5%
Not a believer 6.3% 1.0% 0.4% 3.5% 0.0% 4.2% 1.1% 29.4%
Atheist beliefs 2.7% 0.7% 0.2% 0.6% 0.0% 0.0% 4.3% 13.6%
Do not care 7.2% 2.3% 1.8% 5.8% 0.0% 10.5% 0.0% 25.5%
Difficult to answer 3.9% 2.0% 2.0% 3.5% 0.0% 9.8% 2.2% 5.2%

Religions by year
2000 [10][11][12] 2005 [10][11][12] Nov 2010 [10][11][12] Mar 2013 [10][11][12][13] Apr 2014 [11][12] Feb 2015 [14] July 2015[15] Mar 2016 [12] Nov 2016 [16] Apr 2018[1]
Orthodox 66.0% 60.8% 68.1% 70.6% 70.2% 73.7% 78% 65.4% 64.7% 67.3%
Latin Catholic 0.5% 1.6% 0.4% 1.3% 1.0% 0.8% 10%

(including Greek)

 1.0% 0.8% 0.8%
Greek Catholic 7.6% 7.6% 7.6% 5.7% 7.8% 8.1% - 6.5% 8.2% 9.4%
Protestant [lower-alpha 1] 2.0% 1.3% 1.9% 0.8% 1.0% 0.9% 4% 2.2%

(other Christian)

 1.9% 1.2%
Jew 0.3% 0.2% 0.1% 0.3% 0.1% - - 0.2% 0.2% 0.4%
Islam 0.7% 0.4% 0.9% 0.7% 0.2% - <1% 1.1% 0.0% 0.0%
Buddhist 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% 0.2% - - 0.0% 0.2% 0.1%
Hindu 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% - - 0.2% 0.0% 0.1%
Pagan 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.0% - - 0.0% 0.1% 0.1%
Just Christian 6.9% 15.8% 7.2% 8.6% 6.3% 8.5% - 7.1% 12.7% 7.7%
Other 0.5% 0.2% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.7% 1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.1%
Do not consider myself to be any of these creeds' religions 15.3% 11.8% 13.2% 11.3% 12.5% 6.1% 7% 16.3% 11.4% 11.0%
No answer - 0.2% 0.3% 0.5% 0.7% 1.1%
difficult to answer		 - 0.0% 0.2% 0.9%
Sample size 2010 2012 25000 2409 2018 2018 2018

Religions by region
Religions by regions of Ukraine (Razumkov 2016)[2]
Religion West[lower-alpha 2] Center[lower-alpha 3] South[lower-alpha 4] East[lower-alpha 5] Donbass[lower-alpha 6]
Orthodox57.0%76.7%71.0%63.2%50.6%
Latin Catholic1.4%1.9%0.5%0.3%∅
Greek Catholic29.9%0.4%0.5%∅∅
Protestant3.6%1.0%0.5%1.9%2.5%
Jew0.2%0.3%0.5%0.3%∅
Islam∅0.1%∅0.5%6.0%
Hindu∅∅∅0.3%0.6%
Just Christian4.8%6.5%5.1%8.1%11.9%
Others∅0.1%0.5%0.8%∅
Not affiliated to the religions listed above3.1%12.7%21.7%24.7%28.3%

Religions by oblast

A February 2015 survey by Razumkov Centre, SOCIS, Rating and KIIS gave the following data at oblast level:[18]

Oblast Region [lower-alpha 7] Orthodox Greek Catholic Latin Catholic Protestant Christian

(unspecified)

 Not religious Difficult to answer

(incl. others)

 Cherkasy Oblast Center 89% 0.5% 0.5% 1% 5% 3% 1%
 Chernihiv Oblast Center 87% 0% 0% 0% 9% 2% 2%
 Chernivtsi Oblast West 86% 2% 1% 2% 5% 2% 2%
 Dnipropetrovsk Oblast East 83% 0% 0.5% 0.5% 9% 5% 2%
 Donetsk Oblast Donbass 69% 0% 0% 1% 15% 10% 5%
 Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast West 35% 57% 1% 1% 6% 0% 0%
 Kharkiv Oblast East 76% 0% 0% 1% 13% 8% 2%
 Kherson Oblast South 75% 0.5% 0.5% 1% 10% 10% 3%
 Khmelnytskyi Oblast Center 78% 2% 3% 2% 6% 7% 2%
 Kiev Center 79% 1% 1% 1% 6% 11% 1%
 Kiev Oblast Center 80% 0.5% 0.5% 1% 9% 7% 2%
 Kirovohrad Oblast Center 76% 0.5% 0% 0.5% 17% 5% 1%
 Luhansk Oblast Donbass 71% 0.5% 0% 0.5% 8% 18% 2%
 Lviv Oblast West 30% 59% 2% 1% 6% 1% 1%
 Mykolaiv Oblast South 80% 0% 0% 0% 6% 11% 1%
 Odessa Oblast South 84% 0.5% 0% 0.5% 6% 6% 1%
 Poltava Oblast Center 66% 1% 0% 1% 26% 5% 1%
 Rivne Oblast West 91% 1% 1% 5% 2% 0% 0%
 Sumy Oblast Center 85% 0.5% 1% 0.5% 7% 5% 1%
 Ternopil Oblast West 36% 52% 3% 3% 6% 0% 0%
 Vinnytsia Oblast Center 84% 0.5% 1% 0.5% 7% 6% 1%
 Volyn Oblast West 97% 1% 0.5% 1% 0.5% 0% 0%
 Zakarpattia Oblast West 68% 19% 7% 1% 3% 1% 1%
 Zaporizhia Oblast East 73% 0% 0% 0% 10% 16% 1%
 Zhytomyr Oblast Center 85% 0.5% 1% 0.5% 7% 5% 1%

Types of Orthodoxy
Breakdown of Orthodoxy in Ukraine (Razumkov 2016)[2]
Type of Orthodoxy % of Orthodox % of total population
Orthodox of the Kievan Patriarchate38.1%25.0%
Orthodox of the Moscovian Patriarchate23.0%15.0%
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church2.7%1.8%
Just Orthodox32.3%21.2%
Do not know3.1%2.0%
Orthodoxy by the years
2000 [2] 2005 [2] 2010 [2] 2013 [2] 2014 [2] 2016 [2] 2018
[1]
Orthodox 66.0% 60.8% 68.1% 70.6% 70.2% 65.4% 67.3%
Moscow Patriarchate 9.2% 10.6% 23.6% 19.6% 17.4% 15.0% 12.8%
Kiev Patriarchate 12.1% 14.0% 15.1% 18.3% 22.4% 25.0% 28.7%[lower-alpha 8]
Autocephalous 1.3% 0.8% 0.9% 0.8% 0.7% 1.8% 0.3%[lower-alpha 8]
Just Orthodox 38.6% 33.4% 25.9% 28.8% 28.1% 21.2% 23.4%
Orthodox do not know which denomination 4.6% 1.9% 1.6% 2.5% 1.4% 2.0% 1.9%
Missing 0.2% 0.1% 1.0% 0.6% 0.2% 0.4% ???

Christianity
See also: History of Christianity in Ukraine

As of 2018, 87.4% of the population of Ukraine declared to believe in Christianity.[1]

Eastern Orthodoxy

According to the same survey, 67.3% of the total population adhered to Orthodox Christianity.[1] Orthodoxy is stronger in central (76.7%) and southern Ukraine (71.0%), while it comprises about two thirds of the total population in eastern Ukraine (63.2%), and a particularly low proportion of the population in western Ukraine (57.0%) and the Donbass (50.6%).[2]

From 1992 to 2018, there have been three Orthodox churches active in the independent Ukraine following the dissolution of the USSR: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP), the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (UOC-MP). The UAOC and the UOC-KP were not recognized by other Orthodox churches and were considered 'schismatic'.[19]

See also: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

On 11 October 2018, the excommunications of the UAOC and the UOC-KP were lifted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Ecumenical Patriarchate also announced it would grant autocephaly to the Orthodox faithfuls in Ukraine.[20] However, the Ecumenical Patriarchate recognized neither the UAOC nor the UOC-KP as legitimate and their leaders were not recognized as primates of their respective churches.[21][22] The Ecumenical Patriarchate declared that it recognized the sacraments performed by the UOC-KP and the UAOC as valid.[23][24]

On 15 December 2018, members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and parts of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), voted during an unification council through their representatives (bishops) to unite into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on the basis of complete canonical independence. They elected their primate, Epiphanius,[25] and adopted a charter for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine during the same unification council.[26][27][28] On 5 January 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Metropolitan Epiphanius celebrated a Divine Liturgy in St. George's Cathedral in Istanbul; the tomos granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was signed thereafter, also in St. George's Cathedral.[29]

Orthodox Church of Ukraine
St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kiev, a residence of the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
Main article: Orthodox Church of Ukraine

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) is recently formed national Orthodox Church from Unification council in December 2018, After mergers from Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and parts of Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). The title of its primate is "His Beatitude (name), Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine".[30][31][32] The church uses Ukrainian language as its liturgical language.[33]

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
Main article: Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) is a constituent part of the Russian Orthodox Church (the Moscow Patriarchate). In the week following the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) on 15 December 2018 several parishes announced they would leave the UOC (UOC-MP) and join the new church.[34] The UOC-MP, like the rest of the Russian Orthodox Church, uses predominantly the Church Slavonic language in liturgy.

Other Orthodox Christian jurisdictions

There are also communities belonging to the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church and other Old Believers, to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, to the Ruthenian Orthodox Church, to various branches of the True Orthodox Church-Catacombism (including the Ruthenian True Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian True Orthodox Church and the Church of the Goths[35]), to the Romanian Orthodox Church (Metropolis of Bessarabia), to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Canonical, and to a variety of other minor Christian Orthodox churches.[36]

Oriental Orthodoxy
Main articles: Armenians in Ukraine and Armenian Cathedral of Lviv

Armenian Apostolic Church

Adherents of Oriental Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine are mainly ethnic Armenians. Historical ties between peoples of Ukraine and Armenia have resulted in significant presence of Armenian diaspora in Ukraine throughout history and up to the modern times. Most of ethnic Armenians in Ukraine are adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church, one of main churches of the Oriental Orthodoxy, distinctive from Eastern Orthodoxy in terms of particular miaphysite christology. In spite of those theological differences, relations between Armenian Apostolic Church and various Eastern Orthodox Churches in Ukraine are friendly. There is an Armenian eparchy (diocese) in Ukraine, centered in Armenian Cathedral of Lviv, and also there are many Armenian churches and other monuments on the territory of Ukraine.[37]

Catholic Church
Main article: Catholic Church in Ukraine

Byzantine Rite Catholicism is the religion of 9.4% of the population of Ukraine as of 2016. This church is largely concentrated in western Ukraine, where it gathers a significant proportion of the population (39.7%). Latin Rite Catholicism, instead, is the religion of 0.8% of the population of Ukraine, mostly in western (1.3%) and central (1.2%) regions. Catholicism is largely absent in eastern Ukraine and non-existent in Donbass.[1]

As of 2016, there are 4,733 registered Catholic churches, among which 3,799 belong to the two Byzantine Rite (Ukrainian & Ruthenian) Churches and 933 belong to the Latin Church.[36]

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv
Main article: Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church traditionally constituted the second largest group of believers after the Christian Orthodox churches. The Union of Brest formed the Church in 1596 to unify Orthodox and Catholic believers. Outlawed by the Soviet Union in 1946 and legalized in 1987, the church was for forty-three years the single largest banned religious community in the world. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk is the present head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.[38] The church uses Ukrainian as its liturgical language.

Latin Church

The Church of the Latin Rite is traditionally associated with historical pockets of citizens of Polish ancestry who lived mainly in the central and western regions. It uses the Polish, Latin, Ukrainian and Russian as liturgical languages.

Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church
Main article: Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo

Main concentrations of the Ruthenian Catholic Church are in Trans-Carpathia near the Hungarian border. This community has multiple ties in Hungary, Slovakia and the United States.

Other Catholic groups

The Armenian Catholic Church has a very small presence. As of 2016 there is only one officially registered church belonging to Armenian Catholics.[36]

Protestantism
Main article: Protestantism in Ukraine

As of 2016, Protestants make up 2.2% of the population of Ukraine, with a strong concentration in western Ukraine (5.3%).[1] In the country there are communities of Evangelicalism, Baptists, Charismatic Christianity, as well as Methodists, Mennonites, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and others. There is also a Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church with about 140,000 members, which is one of the earliest Protestant communities in the country. The Embassy of God of Sunday Adelaja maintains a significant presence throughout the country, as do other neopentecostal groups.

As of 2016, there are 2,973 Evangelical churches, 2,853 churches of the Baptists, 1,082 Seventh-day Adventist churches, 128 Calvinist churches, 79 Lutheran churches, 1,337 churches of Charismatic Christianity, and 1,347 other organizations belonging to the Protestant spectrum (including 928 Jehovah's Witnesses' halls and 44 Mormon congregations).[36] In total, as of 2016 there are 9,799 registered Protestant groups in Ukraine.[36]

Other denominations

Jehovah’s Witnesses claim to have 265,985 adherents, as reported in the movement's 2013 Yearbook. In 2010 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) dedicated its Kyiv Ukraine Temple, and in 2012 claimed a membership more than 11,000 in 57 congregations in Ukraine.[39]

Islam
The Crimean Khan's palace at Hansaray was the center of Islam in Crimea for more than 300 years.
Main article: Islam in Ukraine

Islam in Ukraine is the second largest religion after Christianity. Islam in the lands of Ukraine is hundreds of years old, it has a long and complicated history here.

Historically, there were two main ways of spreading Islam in Ukraine: the eastern (North Caucasus) and southern (Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire).

Islam in Ukraine does not have any special specifics, it did not lead to the emergence of new trends, directions, groups, etc. Muslims in Ukraine always profess Sunnism, although there is a separate Sufism.

As of 2016, Islam was the religion of 1.1% of the population of Ukraine. Muslims are mostly concentrated in Donbass, where they make up 6.0% of the population.[2] In the same year, there are 229 registered Islamic organizations.[36] In Crimea, which in 2014 was annexed by Russia, Crimean Tatar Muslims make up to 25% of the population. A major part of the south steppes of modern Ukraine at a certain period of time were inhabited by Turkic peoples, most of whom were Muslims since the fall of the Khazar Khanate.

The Crimean Tatars are the only indigenous Muslim ethnic group in the country. The Nogays, another Muslim group who lived in the steppes of southern Ukraine, emigrated to Ottoman Empire in the 18th-19th century. In addition, there are Muslim communities in all major Ukrainian cities representing Soviet-era migrants from Muslim backgrounds. There are approximately 150 mosques in Ukraine.

Most of Ukraine's Muslims are Crimean Tatars.Then there are Turks, Chechens, Dagestanis, Azerbaijanis and Ukrainians.

There are no single administrative centre, instead there are five of them: Spiritual Administration of Crimea Muslims (DUMK) - Crimean Tatars; Spiritual Administration of Ukraine Muslims (DUMU) - people of Caucasus, Crimean and Volga Tatars, Pakistani, Afghans, Arabs, Russians, Ukrainians; Spiritual Centre of Ukraine Muslims (DCUM) - Volga Tatars; Kiev muftiat - Kazan and Volga Tatars; UMMA - Arabs, Uzbeks, Russians, Ukrainians.[40]

Judaism
Kharkiv Synagogue
Main article: History of the Jews in Ukraine

The size of the Jewish population of Ukraine has varied over time. Jews are primarily an ethnicity, closely linked with the religion of Judaism. Jews in Ukraine are estimated to be between 100 and 300 thousands. However, ethnic Jews may be irreligious or practise other religions than Judaism. It is estimated than only 35-40% of the Jewish population of Ukraine is religious. Most observant Jews are believers of Orthodox Judaism, but there are as well communities of Chabad-Lubavitch and Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism.[41]

Judaic congregations use Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish and Ukrainian languages. As of 2018, 0.4% of the population of Ukraine was found to be constituted by Jews believing in Judaism.[1] There are, in the same year, 271 officially registered Jewish religious communities.[2]

Hinduism
Main article: Hinduism in Ukraine
Ukrainian Hindus in Lviv, Ukraine.

Hinduism is a minority faith in Ukraine. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness managed to propagate the Hindu faith through their missionary activities. As of 2018, Hindu believers constituted 0.1% of the population of Ukraine, with a slightly higher proportion in Western Ukraine (0.2%).[1] In 2016, there were 85 Hindu, Hindu-inspired and other Eastern religions-inspired organizations in the country, among which 42 are Krishna Consciousness congregations.[36]

Paganism and native faith
Worshipers at a temple of the Church of the Native Ukrainian National Faith.
Worship ceremony led by the priests of the Ancestral Fire of the Slavic Native Faith.

Rodnovery

The Slavic native faith (Rodnovery, Ukrainian: Рідновірство Ridnovirstvo, Рідновір'я Ridnovirya or Рiдна Вiра Ridna Vira; otherwise called Православ'я Pravoslavya—"Orthodoxy") is represented in Ukraine by numerous organizations. As of 2016 there are 138 registered communities divided between the Church of the Native Ukrainian National Faith (Рідна Українська Національна Віра, RUNVira)—72 churches, the Ancestral Fire of Native Orthodoxy (Родового Вогнища Рідної Православної Віри)—21 churches, the Church of the Ukrainian Gentiles (Церкви Українських Язичників)—7 churches, the Federation of Ukrainian Rodnovers (Об'єднання Рідновірів України)—6 churches, and other organizations—32 churches.[36] The Federation of Ukrainian Rodnovers was founded in 1998 by Halyna Lozko and has chapters in Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa, Boryspil, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Lviv and Yuzhnoukrainsk. There are many other unregistered groups and federations, for instance the Ancestral Fire of the Slavic Native Faith (Родове Вогнище Слов'янської Рідної Віри), the Wrath of God Native Orthodox Faith, the North Caucasian Scythian Regional Fire, the Order of the Knights of the Solar God and the Rodoliubye Russian Rodnover Community.[42]

Lev Sylenko founded the Church of the Native Ukrainian National Faith (RUNVira) in 1966 in Chicago, United States, and only opened their first temple in the mother country of Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. The current headquarters of RUNVira is in Spring Glen, New York, United States. The doctrine of the Church of the Native Ukrainian National Faith, "Sylenkoism" or "Dazhbogism", is monist and centered around the god Dazhbog.

As of 2018, there were 0.1% Pagan believers in Ukraine, with a higher percentage in Central Ukraine.[1] Sociologists estimated between 1,000 and 95,000 Rodnovers (0.2%) in Ukraine in the early 2000s.[43] Since 1999, the Book of Veles, which is a central philosophical text for many Rodnover churches, is taught in Ukrainian school curricula.[44][45]

Rodnovery has taken a significant role in the War in Donbass. The Azov Battalion, fighting for Kiev, is mainly composed of Ukrainian Rodnovers. It has been reported that it has been collaborating with the Kievan Patriarchate and taking over its churches.[46] On the other side of the spectrum, Russian Rodnovers who fight for Moscow have organized into battalions such as the Svarog Battalion (of the Vostok Brigade), the Svarozhich Battalion (Slavic Unification and Revival Battalion), and the Rusich Company.[47] Donbass has been documented as being a stronghold of Rodnovery; there are Russian Rodnover organizations which are reorganizing local villages and society according to traditional Indo-European trifunctionalism (according to which males are born to play one out of three roles in society, whether priests, warriors or farmers).[48]

Native places of power

The most famous temple is located in Khortytsya in Zaporizhia. According to the beliefs of ancestors, the whole island is a sacred place that has a strong energy. There are still preserved idols and temples. Modern followers of the old faith often visit this place.[49]

There is also a temple in Kyiv that has survived from the times of Kievan Rus.

Other religions

As of 2016, there were 241 officially registered churches belonging to various new religious movements (including the aforementioned Hindu groups, the Bahá'í Faith, Jehovah's Witnesses), 58 registered Buddhist groups, and various registered churches for national minorities - including two Chinese Taoist churches and one Korean a Methodist church, four Jewish Karaite kenas, eight churches for Christian Jews, and 35 churches of Messianic Judaism.

Ecumenism: All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations

In December 1996, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations was formed with the objective of uniting around 90-95% of religious communities of Ukraine.[50][51] Since the end of 2003, the Council of Representatives of the Christian Churches of Ukraine exists in parallel to the council to promote the principles of Christianity in Ukraine and religious freedom.[52] Affiliation with either or both of the assemblies is voluntary.

In 2007, the council accounted for representatives of 19 organizations, while in 2013, only 18. The Council of Christian Churches accounted for representatives from 9 churches.

Religious freedom
Main article: Freedom of religion in Ukraine

Ukraine's laws guarantee the right of religious freedom, and provide a legal framework for the registration of religious groups. Some religious groups have reported difficulties in legally acquiring property (including property previously confiscated by the government of the Soviet Union) due to discriminatory treatment by local government bodies.[53]

There are ongoing disputes of jurisdiction between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate, which split as a consequence of the Russian military intervention. Far-right Ukrainian nationalist groups such as Freedom have assaulted members of the Moscow Patriarchate and otherwise harassed them.[53]

There have been several instances of violence against Jews in Ukraine since 2013.[53]

Vandalism against religious buildings and monuments is common, with many different denominations affected. Jewish and Roman Catholic buildings were among the most targeted.[53]

In territories not controlled by the government of Ukraine, Jehovah's Witnesses have faced persecution by Russian and separatist authorities. Russian media has also frequently denounced Jehovah's Witnesses and the Kiev Patriarchate as being "pro-fascist".[53]

  • Cathedral of the Assumption, Kiev (1078, rebuilt in 2000)
  • St. Micahels Golden-Domed Cathedral, Kiev (1113, rebuilt in 1999)
  • Church of Our Lady Pyrohoshcha, Kiev (1132, rebuilt in 1997–1998)
  • Church of St. Nicholas, Kiev (1899–1909)
  • Trinity Cathedral, Chernihiv (1695)
  • Trinity Cathedral, Sumy (1913)
  • Latin Cathedral, Lviv (approx. 1493)
  • St. George's Cathedral, Lviv (1760)
  • Church of St. Elizabeth, Lviv (1903–1911)
  • Church of the Nativity, Ternopil (1602–1608)
  • Holy Resurrection Cathedral, Ivano-Frankivsk (1729–1763)
  • Transfiguration Cathedral, Vinnytsia (1758)
  • Church of St. Martin, Mukachevo (1904)
  • Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, Stryi (1425, rebuilt in 1891).
  • Saint Bartholomew church, Drohobych (15th century, rebuilt in 1906–1913)
  • Church of St. Stanislaus, Chortkiv (1619, rebuilt in the early 20th century)
  • Church of St. Anna, Bar (1811)
  • Church of the Assumption of the Heart of Jesus, Chernivtsi (1892–1894)
  • Neo-Gothic church of St. Anne, Ozeriany (1875)
  • Central Lutheran Cathedral Ukraine St. Paul, Odesa (1827)
  • Church of St. Nicholas, Dnipro (1895)
  • Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Otynia (1905–1918)
  • Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Odesa (1896)
gollark: Fun fact: a crane bundle of potatOS is *barely* smaller than *actual potatOS*!
gollark: bbpack?
gollark: Strictly speaking it also tries to do compression, but that actually makes executable sizes *worse* most of the time.
gollark: I get around the space problem somewhat by making the bundler end automatically minify all valid Lua.
gollark: Crane basically just writes out the entire program data to a persistent-data file.

See also

Notes
  1. Protestant, including evangelical churches (ie: Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Lutheran, Evangelical Christians, Evangelical Baptists, Christians of Evangelical Pentecostal and similar, Full Gospel Church and other charismatic communities, and Mormons).[17]
  2. West: Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, Volyn and Zakarpattia Oblasts.
  3. Center: Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Khmelnytsky, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, and Kiev Oblasts, and the self-governing city of Kiev.
  4. South: Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Odessa Oblasts.
  5. East: Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhia Oblasts.
  6. Donbass: Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts (excluding the occupied areas).
  7. Region as defined in other surveys by the Razumkov Center.[2]
  8. Prior to the merged into the [National] Ukrainian Orthodox Church

References
  1. Особливості Релігійного І Церковно-Релігійного Самовизначення Українських Громадян: Тенденції 2010-2018 [Features of Religious and Church - Religious Self-Determination of Ukrainian Citizens: Trends 2010-2018] (pdf) (in Ukrainian), Kiev: Razumkov Center in collaboration with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, April 22, 2018, pp. 12, 13, 16, 31, archived (PDF) from the original on April 26, 2018
    Sample of 2,018 respondents aged 18 years and over, interviewed 23–28 March 2018 in all regions of Ukraine except Crimea and the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
  2. Релігія, Церква, суспільство і держава: два роки після Майдану [Religion, Church, Society and State: Two Years after Maidan] (pdf) (in Ukrainian), Kiev: Razumkov Center in collaboration with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, May 26, 2016, pp. 22, 27, 29, 31, archived (PDF) from the original on April 22, 2017
    Sample of 2,018 respondents aged 18 years and over, interviewed 25–30 March 2016 in all regions of Ukraine except Crimea and the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
  3. Proshak, Vitaliy Valentynovych (2006). "Paganism in Ukraine: Its Beliefs, Encounter with Christianity, and Survival". Theological Reflections (7), 2006. p. 145
  4. Kolesnychenko, Tetiana. "Non-Christian Orthodox believers". Den' (День), day.kyiv.ua, 28 November 2006. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  5. "Public Opinion Survey Residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea" (PDF)., The sample consisted of 1,200 permanent Crimea residents older than the age of 18 and eligible to vote and is representative of the general population by age, gender, education and religion.
  6. "Kiev: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kiev-Pechersk Lavra". United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). UN. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  7. Vlasto, A. P. (1970). "5: The Eastern Slavs". The Entry of the Slavs Into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 261. ISBN 9780521074599. Retrieved July 14, 2017. When Constantinople [...] became the Christian capital of the [Roman] Empire - the New Rome - it was natural that the traditions of its see should be re-examined, especially when the pretensions of Old Rome to absolute primacy became more insistent, and its apostolic foundation also made credible. Legends about the missionary journeys of St Andrew, the brother of St Peter and in fact the first apostle to be chosen by Our Lord, were amenable to such an interpretation. [...] Moreover, Andrew's mission-field was stated to be 'Scythia', a vague geographical term in Greek usage which embraces all the northern coasts of the Black Sea from the Danube to the Don. Missionary journeys by St Andrew in the Caucasus also appear in Georgian and Armenian legends. It may be a fact that Andrew visited the Crimea (Khersonnesos), sailing (as was normal) from Sinope. On this basis Russian piety later claimed that he had then sailed up the Dnepr to Kiev and predicted its future glory as a Christian metropolis. Further elaborations of the legend go beyond the credible but this much could be believed by many in Russia. [...] The spread of the legend via its Greek sources [...] probably belongs to the second half of the eleventh century.
  8. "Orthodox Churches clearly expressed their attitude to Ukrainian schismatics. Did Philaret understand?". Russian Orthodox Church website (pravoslavie.ru).
  9. Релігія і Церква в українському суспільстві: конфесійний розподіл, Результати соціологічного дослідження [Religion and Church in Ukrainian society, denominational division. The results of sociological research] (PDF), Razumkov Center, 2016, p. 9
    Survey conducted from 25 to 30 March 2016 in all regions of Ukraine except Crimea and the occupied territories of Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Polled 2,018 respondents aged 18 years and over. The error margin does not exceed 2.3%.
  10. 2013 Journal
  11. 2014 Report, 2014 Report 2
  12. 2016 Report
  13. Studio, Sparkle Design. "Опитування: До якої релігії Ви себе відносите? (2013) // Центр Разумкова". old.razumkov.org.ua.
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  16. 2016 newsletter
  17. "РелігійНість УкраїНців: рівень, характер, ставлення до окремих аспектів церковно-релігійної ситуації і державно-конфесійних відносин (результати загальнонаціонального соціологічного дослідження)" [Ukrainian Religiosity: level, character, attitude to certain aspects of ecclesiastical-religious situations and public-church relations (results of a nationwide poll)] (PDF), Національна Безпека і Оборона (National Defence and Security) (1 (138) ed.), Razumkov Centre, p. 18, 2013
  18. "Religious preferences of the population of Ukraine". Sociology poll by Razumkov Centre, SOCIS, Rating and KIIS about the religious situation in Ukraine (2015)The survey sample was 25000 people, excluded Crimea, so 1000 people for oblast.
  19. Loudaros, Andreas (October 11, 2018). "BREAKING NEWS: EP reinstates Ukraine's Patriarch Filaret, Archbishop Makariy". Orthodoxia.info. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  20. "Announcement (11/10/2018). - Announcements - The Ecumenical Patriarchate". www.patriarchate.org. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  21. "Константинополь: "Надеемся, Москва обратится к разуму". Подробности беседы". BBC News Русская служба. November 2, 2018. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  22. Cazabonne, Emma (November 6, 2018). "BBC interview with Archbishop Job of Telmessos on the Ukrainian question". orthodoxie.com. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  23. "Exarch: Constantinople recognizes all clergy of KP and UAOC as canonical". spzh.news. October 16, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  24. "Constantinople recognized all clergy of KP and UAOC as canonical—Patriarchal Exarch". OrthoChristian.Com. October 16, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  25. "Metropolitan Epifaniy (Dumenko) becomes Primate of One Local Orthodox Church of Ukraine". risu.org.ua. December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  26. Православна церква України буде автокефальною - статут (повний текст документу) [The Orthodox Church of Ukraine will be autocephalous - the charter (full text of the document)]. РБК-Украина (in Russian). December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  27. Piter234903 (December 15, 2018). "Statut". www.slideshare.net.
  28. "СМИ обнародовали проект устава ПЦУ, принятый на "объединительном Соборе"". spzh.news. December 16, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  29. "Patriarch Bartholomew signs Tomos of autocephaly of Orthodox Church of Ukraine". risu.org.ua. January 5, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  30. "Kyiv Patriarchate announces official name of new Ukrainian Orthodox Church". unian.info. December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  31. "Official name of new Orthodox Church and title of its Primate, both according to Charter, announced". risu.org.ua. December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  32. "Щодо поминання за богослужінням Предстоятеля помісної Православної Церкви України". www.cerkva.info. December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  33. "Patriarch Filaret comments on language of preaching in Ukraine's new church". unian.info. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  34. (in Ukrainian) In Chernivtsi, the Old Believers came out of the subordination of Moscow, Ukrayinska Pravda (23 December 2018)
  35. Nygren, Isak. "The Gothic versus the Russian. The conflict between the Church of the Goths and the Russian Orthodox Church". Study of Religions - C Specialization: Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University, Fall 2014.
  36. RISU (Religion Information Service of Ukraine): Релігійні організації в Україні (станом на 1 січня 2016 р.) — State-recognised religious organizations as of 2016.
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  38. "Argentinian Bishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk becomes new head of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church". Religious Information Service of Ukraine. March 25, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  39. Nechiporova, Elena (2001). "Facts and Statistics: Ukraine". Church of the Latter Day Saints Newsroom. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  40. Іслам [Islam] (in Ukrainian). Religious Information Service of Ukraine. January 29, 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  41. Differences among Judaism branches. RISU. December 13, 2009
  42. Lesiv, Mariya (2013). The Return of Ancestral Gods: Modern Ukrainian Paganism as an Alternative Vision for a Nation. Vol. 2 of McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 077358966X. pp. 167-169.
  43. Ivakhiv, Adrian (2005). "In Search of Deeper Identities Neopaganism and "Native Faith" in Contemporary Ukraine" (PDF). Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. University of California Press. 8 (3): 16–17. doi:10.1525/nr.2005.8.3.7. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  44. Малянов, Дмитрий (December 2, 2011). Фоменко — жертва фанатизма (in Russian). Gazeta.ru. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
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  46. Richardson, Ollie; Siard, Angelina (Trans.). "Pagan Regiment "Azov" Interferes in Church Affairs in Ukraine". Life.ru, 10/11/2016. Retrieved 18/04/2017.
  47. "Locked up in the Donbas. A look at the mass arrests and torture of civilians in Donetsk and Lugansk". Meduza, 7 March 2016. Retrieved 18/04/2017.
  48. Goble, Paul A. "Some in Donbas who want to create a new ‘Russian world’ are reaching back to pre-Christian times". Euromaidan Press, 2015/06/24. Retrieved 2017/04/18.
  49. "Святилище "Триглав"". Национальный заповедник "Хортица" (in Russian). Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  50. "All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations". Religious Information Service of Ukraine. December 10, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  51. Інформація про ВРЦіРО [Information about AUCCRO] (in Ukrainian). All Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  52. Нарада представників Християнських Церков України [The Council of Representatives of the Christian Churches of Ukraine] (in Ukrainian). Religious Information Service of Ukraine. December 10, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  53. International Religious Freedom Report 2017, US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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