Church Attendance, Religious Statistics and Patriarchies in Ukraine: the Case of Orthodox Kherson

doi:10.26565/2227-6521-2026-56-07

Mykola Homanyuk Kherson State University, 27 Universytetska Street, Kherson, 73000, Ukraine http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9625-1968
Anastasiia Markeliuk https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4109-8361
Ihor Pylypenko Kherson State University, 27 Universytetska Street, Kherson, 73000, Ukraine http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9625-1968

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26565/2227-6521-2026-56-07

Keywords: Christian (Eastern) Orthodoxy, Patriarchate, Ukraine, parish, church attendance, believer

Abstract

Based on empirical research, the article provides a comparative assessment of the number of adherents of the most mass Orthodox denominations - the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) as of 2018 on the regional level (city of Kherson). The authors conclude that the verbal declarations of Ukrainians regarding their confessional affiliation received in different surveys and the real confessional affiliation of actual parishioners (regular churchgoers) differ significantly. It is suggested that this contradiction may also appear due to the lack of sufficient competence of the verbal adherents about the organizational structure of the Cristian Orthodox world in Ukraine, and by the effect of socially approved answers in polls caused by extreme politicization of religious life in Ukraine. Additionally, it was found that the proportion of registered parishes according to the UOC-MP and UOC-KP databases follows the same pattern as the ratio of their parishioners.

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Author Biographies

Mykola Homanyuk , Kherson State University, 27 Universytetska Street, Kherson, 73000, Ukraine

PhD in Sociology (candidate of sciences), docent, associate professor of the department of geography and ecology

Anastasiia Markeliuk

MA in in Geography, actual member of Kherson Regional Department of Sociological Association of Ukraine

Ihor Pylypenko, Kherson State University, 27 Universytetska Street, Kherson, 73000, Ukraine

DSi in Geography (doctor of sciences), professor, associate professor of the department of geography and ecology

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