scholarly journals Religious-pilgrim tourism in the west of Ukraine: main centres and shrines

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 144-166
Author(s):  
Yuriy Zinko ◽  
Marta Malska ◽  
Taras Hrynchyshyn

This study analyzes the formation factors and major centres and shrines of pilgrimage and religious tourism in the Western region of Ukraine. The article presents structure of the religious space of 8 regions of Western Ukraine in the context of major Christian denominations. According to the latest statistics in the West of Ukraine, among the Christian denominations we can see dominance of believers and communities of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Church. The main pilgrimage centres that represent the Christian denominations of the region are characterized by attracting their faithful and at the same time serving as religious tourism centres for a wider range of people. These include, among others: Univ Lavra, Krekhiv and Hoshiv Monasteries, the Marian Spiritual Centre in Zarvanytsia (Greek-Catholic Church); Maniava Skete, St. George Monastery on the Cossack Graves (Orthodox Church of Ukraine); Pochayiv Lavra, Zymne and Mezhyrich Monasteries, Monasteries in Bukovyna and Transcarpathia (Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate). At the same time, the Roman Catholic Church is represented by sanctuaries: Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lviv, churches in Stryi, Bilshivtsi, Chortkiv, Letychiv and other settlements. The annual number of visitors to these major centres is between 30 and 100 thousand people a year. Regarding non-Christian religions, there are important shrines in the region for Hasidic pilgrims in Belz, Medzhybizh and other towns. At the same time, a number of regional centres are important destinations. There are many temples in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk, Ternopil, which, given the presence of objects of religious worship and significant architectural appeal, perform both a pilgrimage and a religious-tourist function. Religious shrines, which are primarily of natural origin, are often an important component of the pilgrimage-tourist movement in the West of Ukraine. These include the appearance of the Virgin Mary, including individual hills or springs, as well as ancient cave monasteries. Numerous pilgrimage and travel agencies actively promote visits of believers and tourists to them. Development of religious and pilgrimage centres is related to the development of service infrastructure, service complexes and a network of different types of accommodation. It may be recommended to organize more educational and scholarly events of ecumenical nature and meetings of faithful of different denominations in the well-known religious centres of the region. Key words: pilgrimage, religious tourism, denominations, temple, shrine, pilgrimage centre, infrastructure.

2021 ◽  
pp. 586-600
Author(s):  
Sebastian Rimestad

The three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) have a varied religious history. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, they were the last region of Europe to be Christianized. Today, they—and especially Estonia—are among the most secularized societies in the world. This is not only due to the Soviet past but also to Baltic German dominance at key moments in their history. While Lutheranism has dominated in the north (in Estonia and Latvia), the Roman Catholic Church is still the main religious player in the south (in Lithuania and parts of Latvia). Primarily due to Russian migration, the Orthodox Church also plays a significant role in Baltic affairs. There is, finally, a small but vibrant cluster of new religious movements, notably neo-pagan groups.


2012 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-441
Author(s):  
Miroljub Jevtic

The majority of the Christian world today is affected by weakening adherence to principles of religious practice. The reverse is the case in the countries of predominantly Orthodox tradition. After the collapse of communism, all types of human freedom were revived, including the religious one. The consequence is the revival of the Orthodox Christianity. It is reflected in the influence of the Orthodox Church on the society. Today, the most respected institutions in Russia and Serbia are the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Church, respectively. Considering the decline of the Western Christianity, the revival of the Orthodox Church has raised hopes that the Western Christianity can be revived, too. Important Christian denominations, therefore, show great interest in including the Orthodox Church in the general Christian project. It is particularly evident in the Roman Catholic Church foreign policy. The Roman Catholic Church is attempting to restore relations with Orthodox churches. In this sense, the most important churches are the Russian and the Serbian Church. But, establishing relations with these two is for Vatican both a great challenge and a project of great significance.


Significance The Russian Orthodox Church appears to be losing the struggle to control church institutions in Ukraine, as it contests moves by the Constantinople Patriarchate to grant recognition to a separate church in Kyiv. President Petro Poroshenko has led the campaign for separation. Impacts Swift moves towards autocephaly will help Poroshenko's re-election bid without guaranteeing him victory. Russian leaders will mount a strong fight-back against losing soft-power influence in Ukraine. The Russian church will weigh the risks of a final break with Constantinople and disrupted ties with other Orthodox churches. The Roman Catholic Church, which is strong in Ukraine, will avoid engaging in the Orthodox dispute and its political aspects.


Open Theology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zlatko Šram

AbstractThe aims of this research were to determine: (1) the existence of an internally consistent and valid latent construct of the Satanic syndrome, and (2) if psychopathy and depression are significant predictors of the Satanic syndrome within different sex and ethnic subsamples. We conducted a survey in a community sample of adult Christians in the region of eastern Croatia where the Croats (most who are members of the Roman Catholic Church) live together with a Serbian ethnic minority (most who are members of the Serbian Orthodox Church). The equalized convenience sample (N=1100) was divided into two sex and ethnic homogenous subgroups. The Satanic syndrome proved to be characterized as a one-dimensional factorial construct indicating the importance of participating in Satanic rituals; psychic seances during which the dead are called to appear; persons becoming knowledgeable about black magic; being a member of an occult society; and reading books and magazines that deal with esoteric and occult issues. Multiple regression analysis showed that psychopathy and depression were significant predictors of the Satanic syndrome within both sex and ethnic different groups. Within male, female, Croatian and Serbian ethnic minority samples, the amount of variances explained by the predictor variables were 20, 18, 20, and 16 percent, respectively. There is evidence that depressive psychopaths are attracted to the Satanic syndrome as a means of obtaining magical power and control over their destiny, regardless of sex and ethnic differences. The hypothesis confirmed that comorbidity of psychopathy and depression expresses the existence of a destructive sub-personality underlying the Satanic syndrome which indicates the existence of Satanic spirituality.


2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul L. Gareau

The Army of Mary is a Quebec-based, conservative Roman Catholic organization that centres its religious worldview on pious devotions to the Virgin Mary, Catholic tradition and the infallibility of the Pope. In 2007, the Army of Mary was excommunicated for the heterodox doctrine of its foundress, Marie-Paule Giguère, who claims to be the incarnation of the Virgin Mary. This paper outlines how Giguère and the Army of Mary negotiate the complexities of orthodoxy and heterodoxy by basing their institutional identity on the 19th-century, clerico-conservative historiography. I argue that these religio-nationalistic constructions of French Canadian identity as morally superior offer Giguère and the Army of Mary the justification needed to forge a parallel organization to the Roman Catholic Church within a strictly eschatological paradigm.


Author(s):  
Alejandro Zafeiropoulos

Is the Church of Christ the Roman Catholic Church? Could it be argued in parallel that the Church of Christ is the Orthodox Church? And could one accept a positive answer to these first two questions and still affirm that the Roman Catholic Church is not the Orthodox Church, and all this avoiding both a logical and a metaphysical contradiction? In this article I shall respond positively to each of these questions, avoiding the possible contradiction that such responses might involve. Taking as a starting point the philosophical and theological discussion of the Trinity within the analytical mainstream, I shall present the outline of an ecumenical ecclesiology based on the metaphysical relation of constitution. Thanks to this strategy, it is possible to think of a universal ecclesiology capable of explaining better not the diversity but the unity of the Church of Christ. Resumen: ¿La Iglesia de Cristo es la Iglesia católica romana? ¿Podría defenderse paralelamente que la Iglesia de Cristo es la Iglesia ortodoxa? Y, ¿se podría aceptar una respuesta positiva a estas dos primeras preguntas y afirmar que la Iglesia católica romana no es la Iglesia ortodoxa, y todo esto evitando tanto una contradicción lógica como metafísica? En el presente artículo se desea responder de manera positiva a cada una de estas preguntas, evitando la posible contradicción que dicha respuesta podría involucrar. Para esto y tomando como punto de partida las discusiones filosóficas y teológicas sobre la Trinidad dentro de la corriente analítica, presentaremos el bosquejo de una eclesiología ecuménica basada en la relación metafísica de constitución. Gracias a esta estrategia, se puede pensar una eclesiología universal capaz de explicar mejor, no la diversidad sino la unidad de la Iglesia de Cristo.  


Slovene ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 540-560
Author(s):  
Mikhail A. Babkin

The legislative acts of the Provisional Government regulating the functioning of religious organizations has not been sufficiently studied. The bills, which were created in the various ministries of the Provisional Government and failed to become law, are virtually unexplored. On the wave of political events in Russia in February and March 1917, the nondenominational Provisional Government came to power. There arose the need for a comprehensive reform of public administration in Russia and, in particular, church-state relations. In the bowels of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Provisional Government, there was created a structure that developed the draft laws on the status of various denominations: 1) the group on general religious issues; 2) the commission for the revision of the statutory provisions about the Roman Catholic Church in Russia; and 3) the group on issues relating to the Old Believers. This publication focuses on the activities of this final group. The main outcome of this group, working in close alliance with representatives of the Old Believers, was the creation of the draft law on the “legalization” of the third Orthodox Church in Russia (after the Russian and Georgian Orthodox Churches), that is, the Old Orthodox Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy, which, in 1988, became known as the Russian Orthodox Old Belief Church. The resulting bill, dated 18 October 1917, was submitted to the Provisional Government for approval. However, it was not approved because of the overthrow of the Provisional Government on 25 October of that same year. The present article introduces this 1917 bill to “legalize” the Russian Old Orthodox Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy into scholarly awareness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
John Tofik Karam

Este trabalho indaga sobre a aparente “mistura” de massihiyin (cristãos em árabe), tanto da igreja ortodoxa do patriarcado antioquina quanto dos ritos maronita e melquita (ou oriental) que pertencem à igreja católica romana. Argumenta-se que a “mistura” significa não a diluição mas a contenção e a conversibilidade da diferença. Por um lado, os maronitas, os melquitas e os ortodoxos de origem árabe adotaram o catolicismo de rito latino, protestantismo e em menor grau, espiritismo, umbanda e candomblé. Por outro lado, os brasileiros sem nenhuma ascendência árabe se converteram às denominações maronita, melquita e ortodoxa. A diferença cristã árabe é construída e contida no que o antropólogo Richard Wilk chamou de “estrutura da diferença comum”. O conteúdo cultural assume uma forma “mutuamente inteligível,” se variável, na chamada “mistura”. Em vez de ser um benefício ou direito outorgado do Estado laico, a construção minoritária desses e outros sujeitos revela a própria contradição ainda não-resolvida do laicismo. This work explores  the apparent “mixture” of massihiyin (Christians in Arabic), both from the Orthodox Church of the Antiochian Patriarchate and from the Maronite and Melkite (or Eastern) rites that belong to the Roman Catholic Church. It is argued that “mixing” means not dilution but containment and convertibility of difference. On the one hand, Maronites, Melchites and Orthodox of Arab origin adopted the Catholicism of Latin rite, Protestantism and to a lesser extent, Spiritism, Umbanda and Candomblé. On the other hand, Brazilians with no Arab ancestry converted to the Maronite, Melkite and Orthodox denominations.  Arab Christian difference is constructed and contained in what anthropologist Richard Wilk called "the structure of common difference". Cultural content takes on a “mutually intelligible” form, if variable, in the so-called “mixture”. Instead of being a benefit or right granted by the secular state, the minority construction of these and other subjects reveals the  unresolved contradiction of secularism and the secular state.Este trabajo indaga sobre la aparente "mezcla" de massihiyin (cristianos en árabe), tanto de la Iglesia Ortodoxa del Patriarcado Antioqueño como de los ritos maronitas y melkitas (u orientales) que pertenecen a la Iglesia Católica Romana. Se argumenta que "mezclar" significa no dilución sino contención y convertibilidad de la diferencia. Por un lado, los maronitas, melquitas y ortodoxos de origen árabe adoptaron el catolicismo de rito latino, el protestantismo y, en menor medida, el espiritismo, el umbanda y el candomblé. Por otro lado, los brasileños sin ascendencia árabe se convirtieron a las denominaciones maronita, melquita y ortodoxa. La diferencia cristiana árabe está construida y contenida en lo que el antropólogo Richard Wilk llamó "la estructura de la diferencia común". El contenido cultural adquiere una forma "mutuamente inteligible", si es variable, en la llamada "mezcla". En lugar de ser un beneficio o un derecho otorgado al estado secular, la construcción minoritaria de estos y otros temas revela la contradicción muy no resuelta del secularismo.


2009 ◽  
pp. 168-178
Author(s):  
Yaroslav V. Stockiy

In recent years, the study of this problem has received considerable attention in both Ukrainian and Polish historiography, which is connected, on the one hand, with the deportation of Ukrainians from Poland and Poles from Ukraine, and, on the other, with the loss of confessional presence, including property. , these two denominations in Western Ukraine in 1944-1946. Both the first and the second are related to the policy of the State power of the Stalin regime. The echo of these events reminded itself in the late 1980s - in the first half of the 1990s - of the apogee years of interfaith confrontation in Ukraine and still echoes today, activating these 60-year-old events. Therefore, given the Ukrainian and Polish historiography of the study, it is appropriate to cover this issue in more detail. This is the relevance of our article. In this context, the author used sources already available in our time in the archives of Lviv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, which have not yet been fully explored by researchers. This made it possible to reproduce the confessional transformations of the Roman Catholic Church and the Armenian Catholic Church in a broader and more detailed way and to show the impact on this process of state power, which was the purpose of the study.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document