Ukraine: Eastern Orthodox Religion

Before the split of 1054, the Roman Catholic Church or Western church and the Eastern Orthodox Church or Byzantine church were almost one with each other. The two churches held the same ideals and got along with one another the majority of the time. They had previous splits in the past but they were never a permanent situation because they usually found a solution to their issues and differences. The split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in 1054 seemed to have no resolution when their theological, political, and cultural differences became too much for them to harmonize upon.

Deviance is “in the eyes of the beholder” due to the fact that each society, organization and/or groups of individuals have different criterias for what is accepted as “normal” and deviant behavior. Religious groups are a prime example of this concept as norms and deviant behaviors are different from each religion to the other. The NY times article “The High price of Leaving ultra-Orthodox life” provides in an in-depth look at how strict and bounding ultra-Orthodox life is and the various effects it has on people who lived that kind of lifestyle, but have decided to break away from it.

Eastern Orthodox Church is known as Orthodox Catholic Church; it is one of three major doctrinal and jurisdictional sects of Christianity (Meyendorff). Today, 225 million people follow Orthodox Catholic Christians they live mainly in the Balkans, the Middle East, some are America, and Russia. “Eastern Orthodoxy is the large body of Christians who follow the faith and practices that were defined by the first seven ecumenical councils” (Meyendorff). The word orthodox means right believing, they also follows the tradition and the doctrine with a strict interpretation. The word Orthodox (rightly believing) was first used by the Greek-speaking Christian who labeled the communities or individuals who conserve the true faith, as defined by those councils,

The Eastern Orthodoxy is one of many Branches of Christianity that grew further apart from the Roman Catholic Church after the Council of Chalcedon, 451 CE over the disputes of the nature of Jesus or best known by the word filioque. The Eastern Orthodoxy have a firm belief that the Holy Spirit proceed from God the father alone, as the original Nicene Creed and that "...The father sends spirit at the intercession of the son. The son is, therefore an agent only in the procession of the Spirits (Hallam)."[1] Another reason the Orthodox grew further apart was because of their cultural differences, in the East the Orthodox used other languages than Latin in liturgy and readings on the Bible. It was clear that the Eastern Church had a linguistic

When discussing the idea of conversion and Islamization in Eastern Europe under the Ottoman Empire regime, there is a lot of discussion about the modalities that drove conversion in this area. Scholars have discussed the use of force through child gathering or desire to avoid the cizye; however, there seems to be debate about the validity of these statements. Within the survey of Sufism, there is discussion on the role Sufis played in the periphery of empires in the development of Islam. Islamization does not just pertain to the conversion of groups within an area, but a cultural transition with the influence of Islam becoming popular culture and not solely religious. The system of brotherhoods that were established provided access to the

Jewish culture is a specific set of customs, morals, and traditions of the Jewish people starting as far back as four thousand years ago when Israel and Palestinian territories were still known as Canaan. Jewish culture is able to fulfill a large majority of people’s cultural ideals through their religious beliefs, praying rituals, views on marriage and family, and their holidays celebrations, therefore making it acceptable to say that the culture is going to attract a numerous amount of followers for many years to come.

For hundreds of years, Russia has been one of the most diverse countries of the western world, where Christians and Muslims have lived peacefully side by side. Unlike other western countries where Muslims are minorities, Muslims in Russia are more than 15% of the Russian population. Muslims in Russia have played a huge role in founding what is known nowadays as the Russian civilization.

Slavic Mythology is the mythology of Russia and Europe. This mythology goes deep into the ancient times of the Slavs. Slavic mythology stretches over Europe and Russia with lots of mythological figures such as Perun, Veles, Baba yaga, and Chernobog.

Early in the middle ages wealthy people went when on pilgrimages for religious reasons. The hard working people were allowed to rest in holy days, which we now call holidays. In addition this all began throughout the history of Christianity. Europe and the United States help expand holidays like Valentine's day and St Patrick's day. These two holidays have become very popular throughout our generations, but they are completely different from one another.

Lithuanian religion was sculpted over the past few centuries due to their fascist dictators. First, King Mindaugas tried to force christianity upon the Lithuanians. Then Jogaila succeed in turning Lithuania to a Roman Catholic country. After this, the Soviet Union took over lithuania and prosecuted them because of their religion. As you can see the Lithuanians have been put into threatening situations because of their religions.

Good Friday is also known as “Great and Holy Friday” for English-speaking Eastern Orthodox Christians, this is the day Jesus was tormented and passed away. In the mist of this holiday we see the Veneration of the cross. The cross, is a engine of shame, misery and death, due to this Christians venerate the timber of the cross on Good Friday. Kissing the timber cross, they this do in honor of Jesus’ sacrifice and also committing to live by it. The spiritual benefits to this is salvation for those who celebrate, his destruction on the cross and resurrection.

Traditions in Ukraine are heavily carried out through the citizens’ daily lives. Some appear to be a little farfetched, but all in good reason. Ukrainian customs, connected to the birth of a child, are filled with the rites and using of amulets. There are also apparent omens within the country, an immense amount. The pregnant women are not recommended to meet people with colds or diseases, look at the snakes or have their hair cut, sewn, buy something for a future child. The less people know about the future pregnancy, the better. Men and some women are not allowed to visit a newborn baby during the first 40 days of life. The Ukrainian rite of baptism is a very important one. It is considered a humongous sin to refuse the title of a godparent, thus, parents must provide a suitable one.

There are over one billion people from different types of races, nationalities and cultures across the globe, ranging from the southern Philippines to Nigeria they are united by their common Islamic faith. A small group live in the Arab the world and the world 's largest Muslim community is in Indonesia, where substantial parts of Asia and most of Africa are Muslim, while significant minorities are to be found in the Soviet Union, China, North and South America, and Europe

For example, in China and Taiwan and a few other countries celebrate the Dongzhi Festival, where families and relatives get together and eat and generally have a good time together. Or maybe the old Western Christian tradition, Blue Christmas, where families mourn and grieve for their dead relatives or loved ones and “have a good time”. Yeah, right. Not every holiday is a cheery one. But no, you’re not reading about the Dongzhi Festival, or Blue Christmas and such. This is all about the Pagan Yule festival. From festivals, feasts, songs, and dances, Yule, Yule Fest, or Yuletide, is an old Norse celebration that is still celebrated today (Just not as much as Christmas, though).

The Independence Day is a national holiday of Ukraine, the people of Ukraine typically have one day off from work, but some of the officers still go to work on that day to keep the government services running. People usually gather around to visit families, watch parades, and go to outdoor exhibitions. In major cities, parades and concerts are held in public places such as square, theaters and walking streets. Also, people would be standing next to each other, dancing and singing in the square or on the stree. Sometimes, Ukrainian government have official military parade held in the capital city and public Ukraine’s some best weapons. As the sky gets darker, people go outside and watch the fireworks and the firecrackers. The celebrations will continue until dawn. Just like how they treat other holidays, all the Ukrainians would join the celebration on August the