THE ORTHODOX CHURCH POSITION IN THE UKRAINIAN SSR (1921–1937)

Abstract

The article examines church life in the Ukrainian lands occupied by the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR), following the establishment of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic (UkrSSR) in these territories. Particular attention is paid to the transformation of state policy toward religion under the new Soviet administration and to the place of the Orthodox Church within the emerging Soviet system. The study traces how the Bolshevik authorities perceived the Church not merely as a religious institution but as a potential ideological rival and a remnant of the old social order. In this context, the article outlines the initial measures aimed at formally separating church and state, which were presented as progressive reforms but in practice laid the groundwork for systematic pressure on religious life.

The article also briefly addresses the issue of the division and internal fragmentation of the Orthodox clergy in Soviet Ukraine, which was both a consequence of external repression and a deliberate outcome of state policy. The author concludes that the new Soviet administration pursued a consistent strategy to destroy the Church as a social institution, gradually intensifying its methods. This strategy evolved from legal and administrative marginalization to the imposition of excessive taxes, the initiation of administrative and criminal proceedings against clergy, and ultimately the physical elimination of individuals considered undesirable by the regime. Through these measures, the Soviet authorities sought to eliminate the Church’s influence on society and to subordinate all aspects of public life to the ideological goals of the state.