POPULATION
44,854,065 (July 2012 est.)
GDP PER CAPITA
$7,300 (2011 est.)
RELIGIONS
Ukrainian Orthodox - Kyiv Patriarchate 50.4%, Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate 26.1%, Ukrainian Greek Catholic 8%, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox 7.2%, Roman Catholic 2.2%, Protestant 2.2%, Jewish 0.6%, other 3.2% (2006 est.)
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Ukraine
The roots of contemporary Ukraine’s religious heritage can be traced to the introduction of Orthodox Christianity to the region from Byzantium in the 10th century. This remained the most popular religion even though Muslim and Catholic rulers governed the territory for much of the period from the 13th to 18th centuries. Most of Ukraine came under the control of the Russian Empire in the 1700s, reaffirming the Orthodox tradition. However, Ukraine also contained a multitude of religious and ethnic minorities, including Muslim Tatars, Polish Catholics, and Jews. The Second World War (1939-45) and Soviet rule (1945-91) irrevocably changed the Ukrainian religious landscape, leaving the country overwhelmingly Orthodox. The constitution guarantees religious freedom, though social tensions exist. Following independence in 1991, the Orthodox community experienced a schism between those who wished to establish an autonomous Kiev Patriarchate and those who remained loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate. This religious split has a secular equivalent in the current division between Europe- and Russia-leaning populations in Ukraine’s West and East.
ESSAYS ON UKRAINE
Medieval and Early Modern History
The first major introduction of Christianity in Ukraine occurred in 988 when Prince Valdimir the Great (980-1015) adopted the Greek Orthodox branch of Christianity. This tradition spread within Ukraine until the mid-thirteenth century, when Mongol and Tatar invasions drove the Kieven Rus’ into decline, subsequently placing the majority of Ukraine under Mongol and Tatar domination. It was at this point that the center of Eastern Slavic Orthodoxy began to move from Ukraine to northern Russian states such as Valdimir and Moscovy. While the majority of Ukrainians, including a large Cossack population, remained Orthodox, a significant Muslim Tatar population settled within Crimea, and Kiev began to lose its dominance as Orthodoxy’s spiritual capital in the east. In addition, the Kingdom of Poland and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would conquer significant portions of Western Ukraine by the sixteenth century. While elected monarchs who ruled Poland and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were Catholic, the Commonwealth contained heterogeneous population of Catholic Poles, Protestants, Jews and Orthodox subjects who remained largely unmolested. However, during the late sixteenth century, after the Treaty of Lublin in 1569, many Ukrainian Orthodox believers converted to Greek Catholic or “Uniate” Churches due to the insistence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that Orthodox Christians return to communion with the Holy See. This led to the conversion of a considerable number of Eastern Orthodox believers, and, by the seventeenth century, western Ukraine had a majority Greek-Eastern Rite Catholic population.
Under Russian Control
From the late seventeenth century until the late eighteenth century, the Crimean Khanate and the eastern portions of the Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth were integrated into the burgeoning Russian Empire, and Ukraine came under the power of the Tsar. While the territories were assimilated into the Russian state, there remained large Catholic Polish and Greek Catholic Ukrainian populations; however, the Muslim Tatar population largely resettled in the Ottoman Empire. After the November Uprising of 1831, many of those Greek Catholics were made to choose between converting to Orthodox Christianity under the Patriarch of Moscow and facing exile to Siberia. In addition, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Ukraine would experience a series of vicious pogroms against its Jewish population, although Ukraine retained a significant Jewish population until the Second World War. The Holocaust decimated that remaining population, and Stalin’s population transfers removed its significant Catholic and remaining Muslim minorities. By the 1950s, the Ukrainian population was almost entirely Eastern Orthodox or non-religious. At the same time, Soviet religious policy, especially under Stalin, heavily repressed religious life, imposing severe restrictions on the autonomy of the Orthodox Church. Thus, even under the aegis of Orthodoxy there were sharp limits on religious freedom. While under the rule of Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev some restrictions would be relaxed to a limited degree, religious life remained completely under the domination of the state.
After the Soviet Union
During the late 1980s, the Soviets’ attitude towards religious life began to thaw within Ukraine, and the subsequent breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 re-invigorated religious life. With its independence, Ukraine is now in the midst of a religious renaissance, and religious freedom is enshrined within its constitution as religious organizations operate outside the direct supervision of the government. Currently, the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is divided into three competing churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, which account for the vast majority of Ukrainian Orthodox believers, and the small Ukrainian autocephalous Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate holds the most sway in the more Russo-philic southern and eastern portions of the country, while the two other churches hold more sway in the Ukrainian- and European-leaning West. Beyond Ukraine’s Orthodox population, there is still a significant Greek Catholic minority that survived from the sixteenth century. However, other religious minorities from Ukraine’s history, such as Latin Catholics, Jews and Muslims, have minimal populations isolated in comparatively small pockets. In addition, like many former Soviet countries, a significant percentage of the Ukrainian population remains non-religious, atheist, or declines to state their religious preference. Despite the immense progress of religious freedom in Ukraine over the last twenty years, the country in many ways still bears the scars of its tumultuous religious history.
Contemporary Affairs
Although Ukraine’s legal system continues to guarantee non-discrimination and provide for the freedom of religion, there have been recent episodes of conflict both among and within its religious communities. Throughout 2009 and 2010, the Muslim Tatar community in Crimea successfully appealed to the courts to redress instances of religious discrimination. In May 2010, the High Economic Court of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea intervened in a dispute between the Spiritual Directorate of Crimean Muslims and the city of Simeropol, ruling that the city must provide land for the construction of a mosque. Tension between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) erupted in violence in January 2010 when radical supporters of the UOC-KP stormed a UOC-MP parish building during a dispute over which denomination should control the building. The government mediated a peaceful resolution to the conflict in June 2010. In 2010, Ukraine’s Jewish community reported multiple instances of anti-Semitism, including the desecration of the Ternopilin Jewish cemetery in April 2010 and the distribution of anti-Semitic literature in Sudak during January 2010. The prevalence of Ukrainian anti-Semitism prompted a visit from the U.S. Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism in April 2010. Criticism over anti-Semitism in Ukraine flared up again during the June 2012 World Cup, as spectators yelled slurs and performed Nazi salutes.
Religious Freedom in Ukraine
Ukrainian constitutional and legal structures contribute to the free exercise of religion, but a regional conflict exacerbates religious discrimination. Ukraine has no official state religion and the public school system is not allowed to present any type of religious curriculum. The Ukrainian parliament has passed laws that criminalize religious discrimination and increase penalties for the desecration of religious sites. Ukraine’s hate crimes laws single out religiously and ethnically based violence for special prosecution, fines, and increased jail time. President Viktor Yanukovych (2010-present) has spoken openly about his government’s commitment to religious freedom and non-intervention in religious affairs. Religious organizations are required to register with the central government; however, the guidelines and procedures are not transparent and cause considerable confusion. Contradictory and confusing language in the Law on the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations, and the Law on the State Registration of Legal Entities and Private Individuals has prompted the government to reexamine its registration processes. Much of Ukraine’s religious tension occurs in the semi-autonomous region of Crimea, where the Muslim Crimean Tatars face discrimination at the hands of the Christian, ethnically Russian majority. Muslim Tatars struggle to secure land for mosques and cemeteries, although they recently won a major victory in February 2011 as the city of Sevastopol almost unanimously approved the building plans for what became the first mosque in Ukraine. In December 2011, a mosque also opened in Kiev after 17 years of stalled construction. The primary Ukrainian Muslim organization, the Majlis, has criticized the autonomous Crimean government for continuing to publish and use textbooks that promote religious discrimination and foment religious strife.
Religion in the Ukrainian Constitution
The constitution of Ukraine was adopted on June 28, 1996, and provides for the freedom of religion and conscience. Although there is no official state religion, reports claim that local authorities often favor the religious majority in a particular region. All religious groups are required by law to register as either a local or national organization with the State Committee on Nationalities and Religions (SCNR), which was established in 2006. The activities of foreign-based religious organizations, however, are limited according to Ukrainian laws.
