Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine Now has Almost as Many Parishes and Far More Adherents than Does Moscow Church There

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 1 – Russia’s TASS news agency is celebrating what it says is the fact that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which retains ties with Moscow continues to have more parishes than does the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine; but the figures it cites conceal a radical shift away from the Moscow church in Ukraine since 2022.

            TASS says that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church now has 9,792 parishes in Ukraine, more than it had in 2022, and still more than the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which despite having increased by 685 as a result of transfers from the UOC still has only 8,498 (rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=120331).

            The Russian news agency further says that the number of parishes of Moscow church outnumbers those of the Ukrainian church not only in the eastern portions of Ukraine but also in the capital and other major cities like Odesa. Ony in the West, the agency says, is the situation the opposite.

            But these figures are deceptive. Autocephalous parishes are typically far larger than the Moscow church ones. And surveys show that the share of Ukrainians who identify with the Kyiv church as opposed to the Moscow church is almost eight times larger (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/06/since-2022-ukrainians-have-formed-more.html).

            Consequently, despite TASS claims, the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine is already the largest in terms of the number of faithful and will soon be the largest in terms of the number of parishes, even if some continue to count the emptying of the pews in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which remains tied to Moscow whatever its leaders say.