Features of Establishment of the Ukrainian Local Orthodox Church in Conditions of Ongoing Russian Agression

Abstract

The essence and need for the establishment of the Ukrainian Local Orthodox Church are revealed. It shows a direct correlation between the assertion of independence of Ukrainian Orthodoxy from the Moscow Patriarchate and the consolidation of Ukrainian society and the strengthening of national security of Ukraine. A dangerous challenge for the Ukrainian people is that we were forced to realize our ethno-religious identity not through world structures (the Vatican, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and so on), but through Russian Orthodox fundamentalism, obscurantism, and primitive rite of passage, as a result of the inadequate policy of our guides for decades after the restoration of state independence. The article shows the threats to the national interests and national security of the state created by the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine. Russia now considers the use of inter-Orthodox relations as one of the effective mechanisms against the consolidation of the Ukrainian people for the approval of the Ukrainian local Orthodox Church. It is stated that as a result of the deconsolidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox community, Ukraine will lose the potential of Ukrainian citizens. It is noted that the assertion of the Ukrainian local Orthodox Church is equal to the establishment of the national Church, regardless of other foreign religious centres. The recommendations suggest measures, in particular legislative ones, for the democratic settlement of public-religious and state-Church relations in order to consolidate Ukrainian society. They should help ensure the realization of the national interests of the Ukrainian people in the conditions of modern Russian aggression. Keywords: Ukrainian Local Orthodox Church, national interests of Ukraine, Russian aggression, hybrid war, establishment, international religious relations.