Україна й її Православна Церква: постання, особливості утвердження та визнання

Mykola Shkriblyak; Mykola Shcherban

doi:10.31861/mhpi2025.52.195-203

Authors

Mykola Shkriblyak Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University
Mykola Shcherban Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7785-1936

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31861/mhpi2025.52.195-203

Keywords:

Ukraine, Ukrainian Orthodoxy, national identity, autocephaly, Local Church, Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Unification Council

Abstract

The historical prerequisites and socio-political processes that became the catalyst for the final stage of the long-term movement and struggle of the Ukrainian people for the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church as one of the fifteen Local Churches of the Universal Orthodoxy are analyze and highlights the specifics of the convening of the Unification Council, at which the establishment of a single Local Church in Ukraine – the Orthodox Church of Ukraine – was proclaimed and His Beatitude Epiphanius, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, was elected as its Primate.

The leading trends that determined the prospects for the proclamation of autocephaly are explained and the role and place of participation of a wide range of representatives of Ukrainian church, religious and political figures are emphasized, as well as foreign church-religious centers and political structures with their extraordinary views and approaches to the historical and canonical basis for the unification of Ukrainian Orthodoxy in one Local Church.

The research focus is on the reconstruction of the main stages of the preparation and holding of the Unification Council, held by the Patriarchate of Constantinople on December 15, 2018, as a result of which a single Local Church was created in Ukraine, with an emphasis on the historical, canonical and political scientific reflection on the specifics of the establishment of the OCU among other Local Churches of Universal Orthodoxy.

The ideological, theological and canonical basis for the formation of the autocephalous status of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has been determined and the inalienable historical significance of the emergence of the Local Church in Ukraine as an important factor in the establishment of Ukrainian statehood and sovereignty has been proven. An important component of the study is a historical-theological analysis of the dynamics of the process and the clarification of the problems caused by it regarding the recognition of the OCU. The emphasis is on the fact that currently only four out of fifteen Local Churches of the Universal Orthodoxy have recognized the canonical status of the OCU as an autocephalous church.

Author Biographies

Mykola Shkriblyak, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University

Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies

Mykola Shcherban, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University

Candidate of Theology, Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies

References

Balukh V., Kotsur V., Shkribliak M. (2023). Relihiinyi chynnyk sotsiokulturnykh rozkoliv v ukrainskii istorii: monohrafiia. VD «Adef-Ukraina», Kyiv, 424 s.

Holos Ukrainy (2019). Khronolohiia nadannia Tomosa pro avtokefaliiu Pravoslavnii tserkvi Ukrainy. 23 liutoho. Available at: https://www.golos.com.ua/article/314091 (accessed 7 May 2025).

Huliamov B. (2020). Kazus Filareta. Chastyna tretia. Dukhovnyi front Ukrainy. Available at: https://df.news/2020/02/17/kazus-filareta-chastyna-tretia/ (accessed 7 May 2025).

Epifanii (Dumenko) (red.) (2014). Nezlamnyi budivnychyi Ukrainskoi Tserkvy. Upor.: prot. Oleksandr Trofymliuk, Yurii Doroshenko. Vydavnychyi viddil UPTs Kyivskoho Patriarkhatu, Kyiv, 160 c.

Kamenev M. (2018). Yak Poroshenko Konstantynopol brav: istoriia tomosu dlia ukrainskoho pravoslavia. Hromadske. Available at: https://hromadske.ua/posts/yak-poroshenko-konstantinopol-brav-istoriya-tomosu-dlya-ukrayinskogo-pravoslavya (accessed 7 May 2025).

Lahodych M., Shkribliak M. (2022). Patriarshyi i Synodalnyi Tomos pro nadannia avtokefalnoho tserkovnoho ustroiu Pravoslavnii Tserkvi Ukrainy yak deklaratsiia pro tserkovnu nezalezhnist i dzherelo kanonichnoho prava. Vcheni zapysky Tavriiskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni V. I. Vernadskoho. Seriia: Yurydychni nauky. T. 33 (72), № 4. S. 1–8.

Pereverezii V. (2005). Tserkva i vybory: khronika «pomaranchevoi» revoliutsii. Politychnyi menedzhment. № 3. S. 80-90.

Pravoslavna Tserkva Ukrainy (2023). Postanovy Arkhiiereiskoho Soboru vid 24 travnia 2023 r. Available at: https://www.pomisna.info/uk/document-post/202245/ (accessed 7 May 2025).

Pravoslavna Tserkva Ukrainy (2023). Statut (Polozhennia) pro upravlinnia Pravoslavnoi Tserkvy Ukrainy, pryiniatyi Arkhiiereiskym Soborom Ukrainskoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvy (Pravoslavnoi Tserkvy Ukrainy). 24 travnia 2023 r. Available at: https://www.pomisna.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/statut-polozhennya-pro-upravlinnya.pdf (accessed 7 May 2025).

Ukrinform (2018). Vselenskyi patriarkh ne zalyshyt Ukrainsku tserkvu – predstavnyk Varfolomiia. Available at: https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-society/2507248-vselenskij-patriarh-ne-zalisit-ukrainsku-cerkvupredstavnikvafolomia.html (accessed 7 May 2025).

Ulianovska M. (2023). Rosiiska tserkva maie vyznaty svoiu uchast u henotsydnii viini proty Ukrainy – Khose Kazanova (2023). Radio Svoboda. Available at: https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/viyna-rosiyska-tserkva/32214329.html (accessed 7 May 2025).

Khomenko S., Chervonenko V. (2018). Obiednavchyi sobor Ukrainskoi tserkvy: yak vse vidbuvalosia. BBC News Ukraina. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/features-46583417 (accessed 7 May 2025).

Chorna S. (2018). Tomos – druhyi akt proholoshennia derzhavnoi nezalezhnosti. Holos Ukrainy. 29 hrudnia. Available at: https://www.golos.com.ua/article/311863 (accessed 7 May 2025).

Oboz.UA (2018). “Nashi dveri vidkryti dlia vsikh”: Epifanii vystupyv z pershoiu promovoiu do ukraintsiv. Available at: https://news.obozrevatel.com/ukr/society/nashi-dveri-vidkriti-dlya-vsih-novij-glava-edinoi-tserkvi-ukraini-vistupiv-z-pershoyu-promovoyu.htm (accessed 7 May 2025).

Kyselov O. (2020). Religion on Maidan: The Case of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine. In Sebastian Rimestad and Vasilios N. Makrides (eds), Coping with Change: Orthodox Christian Dynamics between Tradition, Innovation, and Real Politik. Peter Lang, Berlin, pp. 87-103.