Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine has once again made questions of history, memory, and identity particularly important. This lecture turns to an earlier period of pressure on Ukrainian religious and cultural life: the experience of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church under Soviet rule.
After the Lviv Pseudo-Council of 1946, the Soviet authorities officially liquidated the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and incorporated its structures into the Russian Orthodox Church. Its bishops were arrested, churches and monasteries were closed, and public Greek Catholic religious life became impossible. Yet the Church did not disappear.
Drawing primarily on Ukrainian historiography, archival research, and oral testimonies, the lecture explores how Greek Catholic religious life continued underground. Particular attention is given to secret Liturgies and sacraments, underground clergy and religious communities, family practices, and the different strategies of resistance, adaptation, and compromise used by priests and believers.
The lecture asks a broader question: what happens to religious identity when the institution that normally supports it is officially abolished? This historical experience remains particularly relevant today, as Ukraine once again faces attempts to challenge its history, memory, and identity. It reminds us that identity is preserved not only through institutions, but also through communities, memory, and everyday practices.
We invite you to join the lecture and explore this history of faith, survival, memory, and identity together.
| Zutritt | öffentlich |
|---|---|
| Anmeldung | nicht erforderlich |
| Veranstaltende | Initiative Perspektive Osteuropa, Lehrstuhl für Neuere und Neueste Geschichte Osteuropas und seiner Kulturen |
| E-Mail (für Rückfragen) | nataliia.ivanusa@uni-passau.de |
