The process of transition of religious communities from one jurisdiction to another, which has revived in Ukraine in recent years, has affected not only Orthodox believers. Representatives of the Protestant Churches also show the desire to change their denomination. True, the transitions in the Protestant environment are not large-scale and they pass without much publicity and scandals in the media.
The process of transition of religious communities from one jurisdiction to another, which has revived in Ukraine in recent years, has affected not only Orthodox believers. Representatives of the Protestant Churches also show the desire to change their denomination. True, the transitions in the Protestant environment are not large-scale and they pass without much publicity and scandals in the media. This was stated by Andriy Yurash, Director of the Department of Religious Affairs and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, in a comment to RISU. “Last year we made a special request to the regional state administration regarding the phenomenon of changing affiliation of religious communities. Some administrations made an interesting surprise – they recorded, in particular, in the east of the state, big figures of transitions in the Protestant environment. That is, we can say that this is a global phenomenon,” he said. According to Yurash, the Orthodox hold the palm of the championship in this process. If during 2014-2017, according to statistical data, 30 Protestant communities changed their religious affiliation, in the Orthodox, this figure is equal to 153. Most transitions occur from the UAOC to the UOC-KP - 100 communities. The Moscow Patriarchate left 39 communities in favor of Kyiv Patriarchate and 2 more have decided to join the UAOC. However, according to Andriy Yurash, this is not yet the complete statistics. For example, in 2015-2016 more than 30 cases were recorded where a part of the community quitted the UOC (MP) and registered a new religious organization. “I think that those 30 cases too should be borne in mind. This is virtually the same change in affiliation, which was differently qualified,” said the department head. According to him, changes in confessional affiliation in Ukraine were constantly taking place. Before the warm there were 3-5, sometimes 10 cases. Transitions became much more active after Russian aggression against Ukraine. “Earlier, the changes in confessional preferences were mainly due to subjective, personal reasons: some priest could not find understanding with the bishop and decided to leave or did not fix the community. This process did not have a civilizational, ideological background,” said the expert. When the war broke out in the east, the consciousness of the faithful and the clergy changed considerably. "In the most dramatic situation were the priests of the UOC. De facto, this Church remains in Ukraine almost the only legitimate officially recognized formal and informal representative of the Russian spiritual tradition. This situation is a concern of many clergymen who understand that there is a church, as it is now impossible now,” said Andriy Yurash.