The history of Christianity in Ukraine dates back to the earliest centuries of the history of Christianity, to the Apostolic Age, with mission trips along the Black Sea and a legend of Andrew the Apostle even ascending the hills of Kiev. The first Christian community on territory of modern Ukraine is documented as early as the 9th century with the establishment of the Metropolitanate of Gothia, which was centered in the Crimean peninsula. However, on territory of the Old Rus in Kiev, Christianity became the dominant religion since its official acceptance in 989 by Vladimir the Great, who brought it from Byzantine Crimea and installed it as the state religion of medieval Kievan Rus (Ruthenia), with the metropolitan see in Kiev.
The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church was one of the three major Eastern Orthodox churches in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church began in 1917 during the dissolution of the Russian Empire as part of the Ukrainian independence movement and in order to restore the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that existed in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1620–1685 and was annexed by the Moscow Patriarchate without approval of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate is an Orthodox church in Ukraine, and self-identifies as the successor to the original Kyivan Ruthenian Patriarchate. It came into existence in 1992, and had the largest number of Orthodox Christian followers in all of Ukraine for most of its primary existence.
Patriarch Filaret is a Ukrainian religious leader, currently serving as the primate and Patriarch of the unrecognized Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, that he left in 2019, views him as the Honorary Patriarch emeritus, while the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople recognises him as former Metropolitan of Kyiv. He was formerly the Metropolitan of Kiev and the Exarch of Ukraine in the Patriarchate of Moscow (1966–1992). After joining the Kyiv Patriarchate, he was defrocked and in 1997 excommunicated by the ROC.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), commonly referred to by the exonym Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), is an Eastern Orthodox church in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA is an Eastern Orthodox Christian religious organization of Ukrainian diaspora under jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the United States. It consists of two eparchies (dioceses), ruled by two bishops, including about 85 active parishes and missions. The Church's current leader is Metropolitan Antony. The Church's head offices and Consistory are based in South Bound Brook, New Jersey.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Ukraine, with 85% of the population identifying as Christian according to a 2022 survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS). Seventy-two percent of the population avowed fidelity to an Eastern Orthodox Church: 54% of Ukrainians proclaimed adherence to the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine; 14% identified as Orthodox Christian without specifying a church affiliation; 4% associated with the Moscow Patriarchate. Another 9% of Ukrainians professed devotion to the Catholic Church in Ukraine: 8% Ukrainian Greek Catholics and 1% Latin Catholics. Two percent of the population declared affiliation to a mainstream Protestant Church, and a further 2% identified with some alternative sect of Christianity.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, also called Ukrainian Orthodox Church, is an Eastern Orthodox church in Ukraine. It is one of 16 autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches, 15th listed in diptych.
Metropolitan Macarius of Lviv is a bishop of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and a permanent member of the Standing Holy Synod of the OCU, holding the title of Metropolitan of Lviv.
The Eastern Schism, also known as the 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism, is a schism between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which began on 15 October 2018 when the former unilaterally severed full communion with the latter.
Metropolitan Epiphaniusof Kyiv and All Ukraine is the primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), holding the title of Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine.
The Unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine is a council which was held on 15 December 2018 in the St Sophia's Cathedral in Kyiv. The council voted to unite the existing Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox churches through their representatives, on the basis of complete canonical independence. All the members of the UOC-KP and the UAOC, and two members of the UOC-MP, merged into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the unification council elected Epiphanius I as its first primate.
On 5 January 2019, Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, signed the tomos that officially recognized and established the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and granted it autocephaly (self-governorship). The events immediately leading to the grant of autocephaly were:
On 15 October 2018, the Russian Orthodox Church broke the communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate because of a dispute concerning the canonical jurisdiction over Ukraine. This led to the 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism. Numerous Orthodox churches took position concerning the dispute over the canonical jurisdiction over Ukraine, whether before or after this schism.
Metropolitan Symeon is a bishop of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and a member of its Holy Synod. He was born on November 3, 1962, in the village of Raykivtsi in the Khmelnytsky district of the Khmelnytsky region in Ukraine Together with Metropolitan Oleksandr (Drabynko) of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky, he joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. He had previously been a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, where in 1996, he was consecrated as the Metropolitan Bishop of Vinnytsia and Bar.
In 2018, Filaret and Metropolitan Epiphanius came into conflict over disagreements concerning the model of governance, the management of the diaspora, and the name and the charter of the newly-formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The conflict started during the process of the granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and continued after the reception of the tomos of autocephaly of the OCU in January 2019. It resulted in the departure of Filaret, along with two bishops and a dozen priests, from the OCU on 20 June 2019 after a Local Council convened by Filaret, returning to an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate.
The Metropolis of Kyiv was an autonomous metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with center in Kyiv after its formation in 988 as a result of the Christianization of Rus by Volodymyr the Great until January 6, 2019, when it received the Tomos on Autocephaly.
Eparchy of Vinnytsia and Bar is an eparchy (diocese) of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine centered in Vinnytsia. It unites parishes of Vinnytsia Oblast that have moved from the UOC (MP).
Metropolis of Crimea is an illegally created Metropolitanate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the territory of Russian-occupied Crimea.
