Ukraine Divided Geographically on Autocephaly as It is on Many Other Issues

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 27 – A new poll finds that more than 30 percent of Ukrainians support autocephaly for the Orthodox church in their country, while 20 percent oppose it, but those nationwide figures conceal enormous differences between western Ukraine where people are overwhelmingly in favor and the central and eastern where they are less supportive.

            In western Ukraine, the poll carried out by the Kucheriv Democratic Initiative Foundation and the Razumkov Center Sociological Service found that 58 percent support independence for the Ukrainian church, a figure that fell to 35 percent in the central part of the country, nine percent in the south, 10 percent in the east, and 18.5 percent in the Donbass.

            In the south and east, the poll reports, opponents outnumber supporters with 24 percent and 28 percent respectively but in the Donbass opponents are outnumbered by supporters who receive 28 percent (qha.com.ua/ru/obschestvo/svishe-30-ukraintsev-podderjivayut-sozdanie-pomesnoi-tserkvi-opros/193766/).

            What is perhaps most striking given that this issue has agitated much of the Ukrainian media and political space in recent months is that 35 percent of all Ukrainians say they are indifferent to the issue, a figure that is approximately the same as the share who support this change in the status of the church.

            Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that Ukraine is close to receiving a tomos of autocephaly from the Universal Patriarch in Constantinople, a development the Ukrainian leader says is essential to the stability of Ukraine. Patriarch Filaret, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate says this could happen next month.