Reconstructing Sacred Space in the Post-Soviet Milieu: New Churches, New Ideologies?

During the most vicious periods of Soviet persecution of religion, relics were vandalized, icons were destroyed, and significant church buildings were demolished in the republics of the Soviet Union. In the post-Sovet period, the state contributed to the reconstruction of select edifices and granted permission to religious groups to use them. This lecture explores the dynamics of sacred space, place, and ideology in the post-Soviet milieu, with particular attention to Ukraine’s multi-confessional religious context. Select examples of reconstruction projects will be discussed, along with the narratives communicating the mission of the particular churches developed in dialogue with the space. The lecture will also attend to the political controversy surrounding new laws on parish confessional affiliation and the significance of property in these contexts, especially given the conflicting claims to property ownership by the state, the Church, and the people.