Complicated relations: Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the nationalist movement in Ukraine of 20th – beginning of 21st century

Abstract

The relations of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and nationalist social and political structures have been analyzed in the historical retrospect. The attention to significant consolidation role of the Church in the interwar period of the 20th century was emphasized on, and it has been noted that at that time the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, on the one hand, did not tolerate the nationalist ideology, the basic idea thereof was in the formula ‘nation above all’ on the other - during the statelessness of the Ukrainian people it did not condemn the Ukrainians’ patriotism, who tried to restore the Ukrainian statehood. It has been stated that during the Soviet period the Uniate Church became one of the reliable support of opponents of the Communist Party of Ukraine, and withdrawal of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from ‘catacombs’ in the late 80s of the 20th century was one of the segments of the anti-communist movement that led to the destruction of the communist regime. It has been proved that under the modern geopolitical conditions the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church often criticize the rightradicals for nationalism, which is built on the xenophobic, racist slogans and has nothing to do with ‘Christian patriotism’.