The Ukrainian Orthodoxy During the Second World War in the Ivan Vlasovskyi’s Church Historical Studies

• Main Author: Andrii Smyrnov
• Format: Article
• Language: Ukrainian
• Published: EIKΩN, publishing house of the Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy 2018-10-01
• Series: Волинський благовісник
• Subjects: Ivan Vlasovskyi; the Orthodox Church; autocephaly; canonicity
• Online Access: http://vb.vpba.edu.ua/1561

The article deals with the history of the Orthodox Church during the Second World War in the Ivan Vlasovskyi’s studies. He is an author of numerous studies on theology and church history, among others Outline history of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Ivan Vlasovskyi examine the institutional changes in the church life of the Volhynia region from 1939 till 1941 in the context of religious policy of the Soviet Union. Special attention is paid to the jurisdictional subordination of the western eparchies to the Moscow Patriarchate. The subsequent German occupation of Ukraine led to a spontaneous revival in church life. However, it soon became marred by jurisdictional disputes, two ecclesiastical entities battling for supremacy. One trend was led by Metropolitan Oleksii Hromadskyi, who created the Autonomous Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate. In general, this church appealed to the Russian and Russified population of Ukraine. The Metropolitan Dionisii Valedynskyi of Warsaw gave his blessing for the establishment of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and designated Archbishop Polikarp Sikorskyi as administrator of the church. In February 1942 Sikorsky consecrated the first two bishops of the UAOC on Ukrainian territory (Nykanor Abramovych and Ihor Huba), and in May 1942 the Kyiv Council of UAOC bishops elected Dionisii as locum tenens of the Metropolitan See of Kyiv. The wartime Autocephalous church attracted the more nationally conscious faithful and readily welcomed the revival of the Ukrainian language and national traditions in the life of the church. The Pochaiv decisions were not recognized neither Warsaw nor Moscow and, according to I. Vlasovskyi, initiated the institutional split of Ukrainian Orthodoxy during the war. After the restoration of Soviet power in 1944 all parishes were incorporated to the Russian Orthodox Church.