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Majority of Orthodox Ukrainians support creation of OCU and call themselves its faithful, survey shows

22.05.2019, 12:50
In their majority, Ukrainian Christians speak positively about the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and the majority of Orthodox Ukrainians affiliate themselves with the OCU, according to a recent KIIS poll, TSN reports.

In their majority, Ukrainian Christians speak positively about the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and the majority of Orthodox Ukrainians affiliate themselves with the OCU, according to a recent KIIS poll, TSN reports.

48.8% of respondents affiliate themselves with the OCU, 16.3% called themselves Orthodox without affiliation with any patriarchate, 14.2% affiliate with the UOC-MP, 8.8% - with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, 4.3% consider themselves atheists. Other denominations constituted in total 4.9%. 2.7% were undecided.

Among respondents who are positive or neutral about the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the receipt of the Tomos, 64.5% believe that the conditions enshrined in the Tomos are sufficient for the development of an independent Ukrainian Church and that it is impossible to renounce the Tomos. In contrast, 8.8% believe that the conditions are disadvantageous for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Tomos should be renounced and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate should be restored. 26.7% did not answer or were undecided.

50.6% of respondents believe that the Tomos is more likely to bring society together, although 30.5%, on the other hand, believe that it is more likely to be a factor of division for Ukraine. 18.9% could not or refused to answer the question.

The survey was conducted on May 12-18 as a telephone survey on smartphones. 1,200 respondents from 18 years of age were polled. The error does not exceed 2.9%.

More than 36% of Ukrainians approve of the election of Metropolitan Epifaniy as the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Among all the respondents 36.5% believe it is good that Epifaniy was elected head of the OCU. Instead, 15.5% adhere to the idea that Patriarch Filaret should have been elected head of the OCU.