Ukraine Religion Committee Notes Decrease in Number of Orthodox

04-08-2008

04.08.2008, [12:28] // Church-state relations // - Kyiv— Ukraine’s State Committee on Matters of Nationalities and Religions notes a decrease in the country’s number of Orthodox believers. The head of the committee, Oleksandr Sahan, declared this in an interview with the newspaper “Young Ukraine.” RISU’s Ukrainian-language site posted the news on 1 August 2008.

Sahan said that in western Ukraine this decrease is tied with the large migration of the population. In eastern Ukraine, he believes that Protestantism is starting to have a larger role.

“We have one account as to the number of registered church communities and another, a real account of the number of believers. This allows ‘politics from the Church’ to manipulate the numbers and allow an inaccurate number for the use of specific purposes,” he said. In Sahan’s opinion, the creation of a united national Orthodox church in Ukraine will also lead to a decrease in the number of Orthodox believers.

http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;23917/