“Atheists of the Kyiv Patriarchate”
The question of the church in Ukraine after the Tomos
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
At the start of 2019, an orthodox national church was founded in Ukraine. However, this is no more than a state church organisation. The attempt to unify Ukraine by founding a new church has failed. The religious-nationalist policies pursued by President Poroshenko from the autumn of 2018 onwards have in fact led to new conflicts and a division of the country. Although the state discredited the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) as being loyal to Moscow and exerted pressure on it, only a small number of parishes joined the new church. Reports on alleged conversions, and opinion polls in particular, were instrumentalised for political purposes. It was only after Volodymyr Zelensky was elected that tensions were reduced to a certain degree. However, numerous conflicts remain unresolved, including disputes over church buildings that were forcibly seized or confiscated by local authorities without any legal grounds.
(Osteuropa 1-2/2020, pp. 17–29)