The Changing Religious Mosaic of Ukraine

Abstract

Ukraine, the largest country in Eastern Europe after Russia, is home to the region’s most religiously diverse population and a country where organized religious life has flourished in the past two decades. This chapter surveys key aspects of Ukraine’s religious changes since the country’s independence in 1991, focusing on its largest religious groups – Orthodox Christian, Catholic Christian, Protestant, and Muslim. The developments include the following: (1) All of these groups have been impacted by international connections: Orthodoxy experiences the tension between Russia and Ukraine; Catholicism is situated between Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy; Protestantism and Islam have been transformed through personal and financial interactions with those in other countries. (2) Religious groups across Ukraine have been reclaiming and rebuilding religious sites, sometimes with legal conflict over ownership. (3) Religious groups are also engaging in civic life in Ukraine through religious education and humanitarian outreaches. The advent of religious freedom that arrived with independence laid the foundation for deep changes in Ukraine’s religious life and society at large.