35% OF UKRAINIAN CITIZENS SUPPORT CREATION OF SINGLE LOCAL ORTHODOX CHURCH
Thirty-five percent of Ukrainian citizens support the creation in Ukraine of a local autocephalous Orthodox church; 19% do not support it; 33.5% answered that they are not interested, and 12% found it difficult to answer.
This was indicated by the results of a nationwide survey by the Razumkov Center along with the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives foundation that was conducted from 16 to 22 August 2018, Gromadske reports.
The center surveyed 2019 respondents over 18 years of age in all regions of Ukraine, with the exception of Crimea and the occupied territories of the Donets and Luhansk oblasts. The theoretical margin of error is less than 2.3%.
The report also says that believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate express the most support (61% for and 11% opposed), while among believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, 27% have a positive attitude and 42% do not support it.
In general, among those who consider themselves Orthodox, 41% support the creation of a local autocephalous Orthodox church and 21% do not support it.
Among Greek Catholics, 40% expressed support for and 19% opposed the creation of a local autocephalous church, although among them, 42% are not interested in this matter or have difficulty answering.
The overwhelming majority of those who do not identify themselves with any confession (84.5%) and those who consider themselves "simply Christians" (74%) and also more than half of those who answered that they are "simply Orthodox" without identifying themselves with one specific Orthodox church (56%) answered either that they are not interested in this or have difficulty answering.
The proportion of those who support the creation of a local autocephalous Orthodox church exceeds the proportion of those who do not support it in the western region (60.5% and 12% respectively) and the central region (41% and 15% respectively). In the eastern region, by contrast, more do not support it (14% and 32% respectively), while in the southern region there is no statistically significant difference (16% and 18% respectively). In the eastern and southern regions, the majority of citizens either are not interested in this problem or are not definite (such persons constitute 54% in the east and 66% in the south).
We recall that from 1 to 3 September, there was a general assembly of bishops of the Constantinople patriarchate in Istanbul. At it the question of the creation of a single local Ukrainian church was discussed. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 September 2018)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.