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Paganism

Paganism is the ancient polytheistic religion of the East Slavic tribes. Each tribe recognized and worshiped one of the pagan gods. In 980, Prince Volodymyr the Great made an unsuccessful attempt to conduct a pagan religious reform. According to it, the pantheon of pagan gods headed by Perun, the god of Poliany, was set up. (Perun is the god of thunder.)

After Christianity became the national religion in 988 because of Prince Volodymyr the Great, paganism gradually died out. For some time its forms were still present in the so-called “dual belief”: the mixture of Christianity with elements of paganism. In Ukrainian Christian culture, elements of pagan culture can be detected even now.

In the 20 th century, attempts were made to revive paganism, but its form differed from that in the pre-Christian times. In 1934, Prof. Volodymyr Shayan set up the henotheistic movement Native Belief (Ridna Vira), according to which God is a manifold essence which arises in the form of numerous gods with different names. When V. Shayan died, his students published his research on paganism, “The Belief of Our Ancestors,” in 1987. Now in Ukraine there are dozens of registered and unregistered communities which appeared on the basis of Native Belief. One of the Kyiv communities is called “Orthodoxy” (Pravoslavia); this name can be explained as “divine law” (prav) and “divine service” (slavlennia). The members of the Native Belief movement have their own doctrine “volkhovyk” (soothsayer), the prayer-book “Pravoslov,” and the ritual calendar “Svaroh's Circle.” (Svaroh is the god of the sky and sky fire, the patron of marriage.)

Another neopagan cult is Native Ukrainian National Belief (RUNVira), which was founded by Lev Sylenko after World War II in the Ukrainian diaspora. He proclaimed himself to be the Teacher and the Prophet, the incarnation of the eternal Spirit of Oriyana-Skytiya-Rus'- Ukraine . Native Ukrainian National Belief is polytheism reformed into monotheism, a so-called Ukrainian national understanding of God under the name of Dazhboh (the name of one of the East Slavic gods, the patron of fertility). L. Sylenko believes Christianity is an alien and hostile religion for Ukrainians, which developed the slave mentality in the Ukrainian nation. He explains the periods of Ukrainian subjugation by other countries as “the betrayal of Dazhboh.” The symbol of the members of Native Ukrainian National Belief is the trident as the national emblem. The main principles of Native Ukrainian National Belief are laid out in the work “Maga-vira” by L. Sylenko. The center of Native Ukrainian National Belief is Ukraine 's Holy Mother Cathedral, located in Spring Glen , New York, USA. In Ukraine there are more than thirty communities of Native Ukrainian National Belief, which are coordinated by B. Ostrovskyi, the pastor of the Kyiv community “Dazhboh.” In Zaporizhzhia, where one of the largest centers of Native Ukrainian National Belief is located, they publish the journal “Svitlo Oriyany” (The Light of Oriyana).

In 1994 in the Vinnytsia region, another movement of Ukrainian paganism, Cathedral of Native Belief (Sobor Ridnoyi Viry), emerged; its followers believe V. Shayan and L. Sylenko did much to develop and spread the essential principles of Native Belief , but they failed to embrace and revive it in full. Cathedral has the goal of unifying Native Belief doctrines. The followers of the Cathedral of Native Belief consider Podillia their special territory, because the largest number of pagan cultural monuments have been preserved there, and pagan communities were functioning there until the early 17 th century. Among all the neopagan cults, the Cathedral of Native Belief is singled out for being the most tolerant towards other movements of Native Belief .

Various forms of neopaganism, from monotheism to polytheism, are popular with small circles of the intelligentsia. In the first place: carried away by the ideas of national revival in the late 1980s, these members of the intelligentsia considered the revival of ancient pagan beliefs as its necessary condition. That is why neopaganism has gained certain support, especially among some leaders who follow the idea of a national Orthodox Church.

For current statistical information, see Statistics on Religion in Ukraine and for a list of web-sites see Religion in Ukraine on the Internet.