Orthodox Christianity In Ukraine

The climate in Ukraine is typically rainy and consists of mild temperature and little snow in the south.

Orthodox is a religion that is talked less among strong Christian believers. Many of the population don’t even know that it exists, youth, and old adults are more likely to discuss the religion Catholicism. Directly following the social protocol, many think that orthodox is a religion that died out long time ago and few never learns the history behind of its being in this world. Unlike the other denominations, Orthodox churches have followed strict rules and scriptures that have been passed down from generations. Many of my friends may say, “Orthodox is not a true religion. Stop wasting your time!” As a member of the Orthodox faith for eighteen years, I can only replay and say, “You have no idea what you are talking about.” In this DCA paper, I will write to show that I am part of the Orthodox church, logically explain why Orthodox altar boys is so strong, and illustrate how this type of commitment affects your emotional life to prove that I belong in the Orthodox discourse community.

Soviet Ukraine was a terrible place to be in the late 1900s for Jewish people. There was strong anti-semitism during this time in the waning days of the Cold War. The Cold War was a state of political hostility between countries that was characterized mainly by threats and propaganda. Lev Golinkin wrote on his experiences about being a Jew living in Ukraine in his memoir, A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka. Golinkin possesses an interesting writing style that includes a terribly harsh tone of fear, yet he also incorporates humor that forces the reader to connect with him. Golinkin utilized tone superbly to allow the reader to better understand the topics of his memoir.

Russian Orthodox Christianity as we know it today has a unique and distinct identity from other Orthodox Christian Churches around the world, specifically when it comes to asceticism, monasticism and the understanding of Hesychasm. The devotion that people have towards their faith, along with the majesty of the services with thousands flocking to the cathedrals and monasteries to venerate relics and miraculous icons is rarely seen elsewhere. Russian Orthodoxy has come to where it stands today because of the efforts of many saints and blessed men and women. They fought and persevered through many temptations and difficulties in order to maintain and preserve the faith of the Fathers. This journey, which was filled with glories and persecutions, began with the baptism of Russia in 988, under the rule of Prince Vladimir. It continued through laying the foundation of monasticism in the early eleventh century by St. Theodosius, and later on with the introduction of Hesychasm and mysticism through St. Sergius of Radonezh. Nevertheless, at a certain period in history, roughly around the early fourteenth century, monasticism had reached a stagnant point. The Tartar invasion of 1237, that lasted for about three years affected most of the old communities and produced great disorders in both the religious and moral life of the Russians. Society had not recovered from the aftermath of the invasion until the fourteenth century, when St. Sergius played a great role. Through the efforts

So far the essay examined the major or general difference between Orthodox and Jewish movement. Yet, many other specific differences to understand where Reform and Orthodox Jews exists. As an example, gender separation is an important practice to Orthodox in Synagogues. Men and women are seated in separate sections to ensure modesty and attention. On the other hand, Reform synagogues allows all gender to be present in the same section.

The denomination that I have chosen to research is Russian Orthodox. The reason that I chose to write on this religion is because I have been interested in learning about the Russian Orthodox religion and all that it entails. The main points of this research paper is a quick history, some of their beliefs, and how does their cross compare to the Roman Catholic cross.

Gnosticism can be defined as the mystical perception of knowledge and was considered to be a heresy that was condemned by those who followed the traditional Orthodox form of Christianity. In the second century the movement of Gnostic Christianity occurred; it is also referred to as a Christian sect (Carus). Though people viewed Gnostic Christianity as a sect, it has never been denied that Gnosticism is older than Christianity and the relation and importance between the two groups have never been acknowledged (Gnostic Discoveries). Since the discovery of texts found at Nag Hammadi which presents Jesus as a Gnostic teacher, the connection between the two groups has grown exponentially, and Paul Carus the author of The Monist even believes that Christianity is a branch of Gnosticism. Marvin Meyer a professor of Bible and Christian studies, has found that the discovery of the Gnostic texts allows scholars to get a deeper understanding of Christian teachings and relate the findings to biblical texts (Gnostic Discoveries).

Ukraine, once a totalitarian state in the USSR, is now being ravaged by civil war. This war has been fought between Ukrainian Nationalist and Pro-Russian supporters in the Donbass region. This rising unrest can be traced back to the Russian ties that run deep in its Government. This Russian influence is being used by President Putin to incite Rebellion in the eyes of Ukrainians, and it all starts with Ukrainian politics of party groups Svoboda and The Party of Regions

The Russian Church has been around since 1448, but the metropolitans of Kiev were the head of the church. The church wants immunity from taxation in the 1270, while it was under the rule of Mogul. The community of believers, which apostle Andrew founded is what makes up the Russian Church. The

Ilya Kaminsky was born 1977 in Odessa, Ukraine of the former Soviet Union in a time of political unrest (Poetry Foundation). Ukraine has had a history of political unrest under the Soviet Union, and with Kaminsky being of Jewish descent, he would have been under immense fear. Ukraine’s Jewish population lost most of its 1.5 million population to Nazi Germany in World War II. While the effects of the war lessened tremendously after the war, the history must haunt the community. In the late 1900s, Ukraine sought independence from the Soviet Union, which was achieved in 1991 along with the fall of the Soviet Union. However, independence did not come without a cost to the Ukrainians. In 1972, only five years before Kaminsky was born, a repression effort of refuseniks was launched by the Soviet Union (“Ukraine Profile - Timeline”).

The biggest disagreement between Eastern Orthodox and Western Roman Catholic church was, who was in charge. Serious arguments about how churches were to be run.

The following view is taken from the Russian Orthodox Belief and practices, that the Russian church: Русская Православная Церковь) is traditionally said to have been founded by the Apostle Andrew, who is thought to have visited  Scythia  and Greek colonies along the northern coast of the  Black Sea. According to one of the legends, St. Andrew reached the future location of Kiev and foretold the foundation of a great Christian city.  The spot where he reportedly erected a cross is now marked by St. Andrew's Cathedral.

The Ukrainian Village began forming in Chicago during what would have been the second wave of Ukrainian immigration during the early 1900s up until the World War I. The first two waves of immigration were motivated by economic betterment, just like many other immigrant groups at the time. However the third and fourth waves of immigration are significant to Sts. Volodymyr and

Most people in Ukraine believe in the Eastern Orthodox religion. Eastern Orthodox is the main religion in Ukraine. The second leading religion in Ukraine is Catholicism. The third leading religion is Protestantism. These are the main religions in Ukraine.

The conflict between the Ukraine and Russia is the Ukraine's most long-standing and deadly crisis; since its post-Soviet independence began as a protest against the government dropping plans to forge closer trade ties with the European Union. The conflict between Russia and the Ukraine stems from more than twenty years of weak governance, the government’s inability to promote a coherent executive branch policy, an economy dominated by oligarchs and rife with corruption, heavy reliance on Russia, and distinct differences between Ukraine's population from both Eastern and Western regions in terms of linguistics, religion and ethnicity (Lucas 2009).