BOOK NOTES

Authors release studies on roles of religion and nation in modern Ukraine

"Religion and Nation in Modern Ukraine" by Serhii Plokhy and Frank Sysyn. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 2003. 232 pp., $27.95 paperback, $39.95 cloth.

In August 2003 the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press released a 232-page collection of 11 essays by Profs. Serhii Plokhy and Frank Sysyn titled "Religion and Nation in Modern Ukraine."

Drs. Plokhy and Sysyn wrote their studies on the topic during the years 1983-1999. They began their research at a time when East and West were still divided by the Iron Curtain; Dr. Sysyn was a professor at Harvard University, and Dr. Plokhy was teaching at Dnipropetrovsk University in Ukraine. Since the early 1990s both scholars have been research associates of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. Their diverse educations and life experiences underlie their differing research interests and perspectives and enliven the volume.

Much of the analysis presented in "Religion and Nation in Modern Ukraine" deals with the responses of Ukraine's Eastern Christians to the challenge of the national idea. The book views the history and current status of Ukraine's Orthodox and Greek-Catholic communities in the context of the modern Ukrainian national revival of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and of the resurgence of Ukrainian national consciousness in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Among the topics the authors discuss are the formation of modern Ukrainian religious culture; the impact of the traditions of the Kyiv Metropolitanate on the Ukrainian Orthodox Autocephalous movement; the foundation of the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Canada in relation to the formation of national identity in Ukraine and in the Ukrainian diaspora; the role of the international factor in the Soviet liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in 1946; the rebirth of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the USSR (1989-1991); the role of the Moscow Patriarchate in independent Ukraine in the early 1990s; the struggle for a Ukrainian Catholic Patriarchate in Ukraine in the early 1990s; and the Church-state relationship in contemporary Ukraine.

The book is indispensable for any one interested in the history of Ukraine or in the church-state-nation relationship in 20th century Eastern Europe. For students of the interaction of state and nation building and religion, Ukraine constitutes one of the most important case studies at the dawn of the 21st century. With more than 48 million inhabitants, the country is the second-most populous state to emerge from the break-up of the former Soviet bloc. Ukraine contains one of the largest Orthodox communities in the world. Alongside the millions of that country's Orthodox faithful are more than 3,000 Ukrainian Greek-Catholic parishes, which constitute the world's largest Eastern Christian Church united with Rome.

The publication of "Religion and Nation in Modern Ukraine" was made possible by the support of the Ukrainian Church Studies Program at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, and by the generosity of the Skop Family (in memory of Konstantyn Hordienko), the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies, the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League of Edmonton, and the SUS Foundation of Canada.

The price of the book is $27.95 paperback and $39.95 cloth. Orders are accepted by e-mail, [email protected]; telephone, (780) 492-2973, fax, (780) 492-4967, or regular mail, CIUS Press, 450 Athabasca Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E8.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 5, 2003, No. 40, Vol. LXXI

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