The Orthodox Church in Podillia in the 1920s and 1930s: modern Ukrainian historiography

Abstract

The achievements of modern Ukrainian historiography in the study of the development of the Orthodox Church in Podillia in the 1920s and 1930s are analyzed. Among the entire array of works that covered or focused on the specified problem, four conditional groups can be distinguished, which will improve the presentation and perception of the achievements of Ukrainian historical science:

1) thorough works, mostly on the basis of dissertation studies, which cover the territory of the Ukrainian SSR and reveal fragments of Podillia church life (O. Ignatusha, O. Trygub, S. Zhyliuk and others);

2) works that reveal the historiographical aspect of the problem, i.e. an attempt is made to generalize existing developments and identify potential areas of further research work in a regional context (O. Galamai, S. Drovoziuk);

3) archeographic works determining the source potential of the topic (O. Galamai, O. Shyroka, M. Panasiuk, Yu. Zinko);

4) positivist works revealing various aspects of Orthodox life on the territory of Podillia (O. Trygub, O. Galamai, O. Loiko, M. Oliinyk, D. Kuzovenkov, O. Loginov, O. Kolesnyk, N. Kuzminets, M. Panasiuk and others).

The author came to the conclusion that, despite such a variety of modern authors and works, there are still a large number of gaps in the study of the Orthodox Church in Podillia during the interwar period. We consider the study of interfaith relations in the Orthodox environment, the analysis of the religiosity of the population in terms of different strata (intelligentsia, workers, peasants), the religious daily life of believers, the survival of the clergy, repression of the clergy and believers, and, finally, the creation of a qualitative generalizing work based on a wide source base, as promising areas of research. – a variety of central, regional and branch archives (Security Service of Ukraine and Ministry of Internal Affairs), civil and church press, sources of personal origin, etc.