THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE UKRAINIAN AUTOCEPHALOUS ORTHODOX CHURCH AND THE TOTALITARIAN AUTHORITES AND ITS PROJECTION ON MODERN ETHNO-RELIGIOUS PROCESSES IN UKRAINE


DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/2520-2626/2019.25.2

Nina Brekhunets

Abstract


The article analyzes the conflict between the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the totalitarian government and its projection on the contemporary ethno-religious processes in Ukraine. It is shown that the UAOC as a kind of modern ecclesiastical structure created under the heavy influence of the stormy events of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921, was Ukrainian in spirit and form, and brought up respect for national history and culture among Ukrainians and became an object of prosecution during the the Great Terror. It was revealed that the UAOC continued to be a Ukrainian religious organization and professed love for Ukraine, and its hierarchs and priests in their sermons called on believers to be Ukrainians, to respect their mother tongue, cultural history, customs and traditions also during the second half of the 1920th half of the 1930es. The UAOC was consistently persecuted and exterminated by the repressive structures of the USSR. It is shown that the Soviet authorities decided to destroy the UAOC finally, and ordered the repressive authorities to end the so-called «Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists» in the ranks once and for all, so that the «Clergy» case concerning the activities of the Ukrainian counter-revolutionary national organization was fabricated. It has been revealed that the totalitarian regime accused the arrested believing Ukrainians of counter-revolutionary actions, the revival of church and religious life in Ukraine, the promotion of their own candidates in the upcoming elections to the Local Councils in order to incorporate their people into important state bodies in order to use foreign powers in the case of foreign intervention. It is established that as a result of the complex and purposeful repression of the totalitarian regime in Ukraine, the UAOC ceased its Ukrainian-centric activity and its remnants were finally destroyed. It is proved that only from the late 1980es, when the decline of communist ideology began, the Christians of Ukraine were able to restore Ukrainian church organizations, including the UAOC. It is revealed that the heavy post-colonial and post-totalitarian legacy and the subversive anti-Ukrainian activities of the Russian Orthodox Church and the former KGB agents have contributed to the escalation of conflicts in Ukraine.

Keywords


Ukraine; Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church; great terror; totalitarian Soviet regime

References


Botsiurkiv B. (1992). Problemy doslidzhennia istorii relihii ta tserkvy v Ukraini u mizhvoiennyi period: dzherela ta yikh opratsiuvannia [Problems of the study of the history of religion and churches in Ukraine in the interwar period: sources and their elaboration]. Ukrainskyi arkheohrafichnyi shchorichnyk. Kyiv. Vyp. 1. T. 4. 285–294. (in Ukrainian).

Vysoven O. (2017). Rol hromad Yevanhelskykh khrystyian-baptystiv u rusi oporu radianskomu totalitarnomu rezhymu ta vidnovlenni derzhavnosti Ukrainy [The Role of Evangelical Baptist Communities in the Movement of Resistance to the Soviet Totalitarian Regime and the Restoration of Ukrainian Statehood]. Ukrainoznavchyi almanakh. Vol. 21. Kyiv: «Milenium». 32–36. (in Ukrainian).

Vlasovskyi I. (1998). Narys istorii Ukrainskoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvy: u 4-kh t. 5 kn. Repryntne vydannia 1961 roku [Essay on the history of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: in 4 volumes 5 books. Reprint edition of 1961]. Kyiv: Lybid. Tom 4. (KhKh st.). Ch. I. 368. (in Ukrainian).

Voronyn O. (1992). Istorychnyi shliakh UAPTs [Historical Way of the UAOC]. Kensinhton: Voskresinnia. (in Ukrainian).

Haluzevyi derzhavnyi arkhiv Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy, (1935-1937). F. 16. O. 1. S. 32. Dokumenty (dovidky) dopovidi, spetspovidomlennia upravlinnia UNKVS po Odeskii, Kyivskii, Vinnytskii, Chernihivskii oblastiakh do NKVS URSR pro operatyvno-slidchu robotu po liniiu tserkvy [The sectoral state archive of the Security Service of Ukraine. F. 16. О. 1. С. 32. Documents (certificates) of the report, special messages of the control over the UNHCR in the Odessa, Kiev, Vinnytsya, Chernihiv regions to the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR on operative and investigative work along the line of the church of 1935-1937]. (in Ukrainian).

Zinchenko A. (1997). Vyzvolytysia viroiu. Zhyttia i diiannia mytropolyta Vasylia Lypkivskoho [Liberated by faith. Life and Deeds of Metropolitan Vasyl Lipkivsky]. Kyiv: Vydavnytstvo «Dnipro». (in Ukrainian).

Zinchenko A. (2003). Iierarkhy Ukrainskoi tserkvy: mytropolyt Mykola Boretskyi, arkhiiepyskop Kostiantyn Krotevych, mytropolyt Ivan Pavlovskyi [Hierarchs of the Ukrainian Church: Metropolitan Nikolai Boretsky, Archbishop Konstantin Krotevych, Metropolitan Ivan Pavlovsky.]. Kyiv: Ukrainska Vydavnycha Spilka. (in Ukrainian).

Kyrydon A. (2005). Chas vyprobuvannia: derzhava, tserkva, suspilstvo v radianskii Ukraini 1917-1930-kh rokiv [Time of trial: state, church, society in Soviet Ukraine 1917–1930 s.]. Ternopil. (in Ukrainian).

Krasilnikova O. (2017). Ukrainskyi tserkovnopravoslavnyi rukh: istorychni peredumovy [Ukrainian Church-Orthodox Movement: Historical Background. Orthodoxy in Ukraine: A collection of materials from the VІІ International scientific conference]. Pravoslavia v Ukraini: Zbirnyk za materialamy II Mizhnarodnoi naukovoi konferentsii. Kyiv. Ch. 2. 7–13. (in Ukrainian).

Pyliavets L. (1990). Avtokefalna pravoslavna tserkva v Ukraini [Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine]. Liudyna i svit. Kyiv. № 5. 19–24. (in Ukrainian).

Ponomarov V. (2009). «Ne biitesia!» Tsymy slovamy Khrysta zvernuvsia do zaliakuvanykh chekistamy delehativ tserkovnoho Soboru mytropolyt Vasyl Lypkivskyi [«Do not be afraid!» These words of Christ turned to the intimidated caretakers of the church council delegates Metropolitan Vasyl Lipkivsky.]. Dzerkalo tyzhnia. №11. (739). (in Ukrainian).

Prelovska I. (1997). VPTsR – orhanizatsiinyi oseredok UAPTs (1917-1921) Ukrainskyi tserkovnovyzvolnyi rukh i utvorennia Avtokefalnoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvy [VPTSR – organizational center of the UAOC (1917-1921) Ukrainian Church-Liberation Movement and the formation of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church]. Materialy naukovoi konferentsii. Kyiv. 29–49. (in Ukrainian).

Subtelnyi O. (1993). Ukraina: istoriia [Ukraine: History]. Рereklad z anhliiskoi. 3-tie vydannia pererob. i dop. K: Lybid. (in Ukrainian).

Turchenko F., Ihnatusha O. (1989). Ukrainska avtokefalna tserkva [Ukrainian Autocephalous Church. Homeland]. Vitchyzna. №12. 166–175. (in Ukrainian).

Fihurnyi Yu. (2016). Derzhavnytska ta etnokulturna diialnist Petra Kalnyshevskoho v konteksti ahresyvnoi polityky Rosii shchodo Ukrainy i ukraintsiv u druhii polovyni XVIII st. [State and ethno-cultural activities of Peter Kalnyshevsky in the context of Russia's aggressive policy towards Ukraine and Ukrainians in the second half of the seventeenth century]. Chasopys ukrainskoi istorii. Kyiv. Spetsvypusk. 34. 51–59. (in Ukrainian).

Fihurnyi Yu. (2018). Ideia sobornosti Ukrainy: mynule y sohodennia [The idea of the unity of Ukraine: past and present]. Chasopys ukrainskoi istorii. Kyiv. Vol. 37. 50–61. (in Ukrainian).

Khomchuk O. (2002).Tserkva poza tserkovnoiu ohorozheiu. Rozkoly i ruinatsii Ukrainskoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvy v poshukakh «konstantynopolskoho vyznannia» [Church outside the church fence. Breakdown and destruction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in search of «Constantinople's recognition»]. Chykaho, Illinois. (in Ukrainian).

Tsentralnyi derzhavnyi arkhiv vyshchykh orhaniv i upravlinnia Ukrainy [Central State Archives of Supreme Bodies and Administration of Ukraine]. F. 3984. O. 1,3. (in Ukrainian).

Shyp N. (1995). Tserkovno-pravoslavnyi rukh v Ukraini [Church Orthodox Movement in Ukraine]. Kyiv. (in Ukrainian).

Shuba O. (1999). Relihiia v etnonatsionalnomu rozvytku Ukrainy (politolohichnyi analiz) [Religion in ethnonational development of Ukraine (political analysis)]. Kyiv. (in Ukrainian).


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.