Kill Dragon: Post-Colonial Challenges for the Orthodox Church in Ukraine

Abstract

The centuries of Russian occupation and colonization significantly influenced the religious and religious environment of Ukraine, especially the Orthodox Church. They have largely produced a modern confessional landscape, which determines the prospect of involving postcolonial studies in its analysis. Indeed, the largest number of communities, but not the number of faithful Orthodox confessions, the UOC-MP is closely affiliated with the dominant Church of Russia, a colonial country in relation to Ukraine. The actions of numerous representatives of this Church during the Revolution of the Prosperity and the hybrid war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, when the latter, with significant difficulties increasingly deprived of the first, clearly demonstrated the degree of dependence of this denomination from the Russian Orthodox Church. After all, not only the laity, but also the priests of the UOC-MP became in the bosom of pro-Russian terrorists, one of the most pro-Russian-minded figures - Kallinik (Chernyshev) - after the occupation of the Crimea, he was even elected Synod of the Vicarious Bishop of the Simferopol Diocese.