Unsolved issues in the historical past related to the creation of the national Orthodox Church are being seen nowadays, when the Ukrainian state is doing everything possible, in particular, for the military defeat of the occupiers, pro-tection of its sovereignty, territorial integrity and needs a broad consolidation of the society, including those groups of believers belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate. One of the creators of autocephaly, UNR’s Minister of Religion, Ivan Ohiienko, was well awared of the harmful infl uence of the dependence of the Ukrainian church on the Russian one and the corresponding deformations in the worldview of believers. In his activities, aimed at the formation and organi-zational completion of Ukrainian Orthodoxy in 1919-1920, there are a number of lessons for today, which the proposed study also contains. To analyze the materials of Ukrainian periodicals about the activities of the Ministry of Religion headed by Ivan Ohiienko in 1919-1920, when the Ukrainian state pursued the most active ecclesiastical policy regarding the creation of its patriotic Orthodox Church. The article adheres to generally accepted research principles of objec-tivity, comprehensiveness, historicism, and others. The author used methods of analysis, induction and deduction, descriptiveness, content analysis, historical-comparative, source criticism, historical-systemic, etc. For the fi rst time in his-toriography, an attempt is made to provide a comprehensive source analysis of Ukrainian periodicals that covered the activities of the Ministry of Religion and its head, Ivan Ohiienko, from September 1919 (appointment to the position) to July 1920 (departure from Kamianets-Podilskyi). More than a hundred news-paper reports and materials present the multifaceted activities of the Ministry of Religion, had been headed by Ivan Ohiienko. These reports and materials were related to almost all aspects of the work of the Ministry, starting from plans and ending with orders. Their analysis testifi es to the eff orts of the minis-ter’s team to consistently implement the church policy of the UNR government (Ukrainization, reform of church administration and spiritual education, devel-opment of autocephaly, etc.). On their basis, two periods of the most active work of the ministry can be distinguished – in September-October 1919 and May-June 1920, which are associated with the deterioration/improvement of the national and military situation in the country. Thanks to the press, readers received reli-able information about state and church policy (it was posted by the ministry itself), contrary to rumors spread by supporters of the Russian Orthodox bishop.