Only 1/3 of Ukrainians okay the idea of creating Local Church, – survey

A national survey was conducted during May 19-25, 2018

About 31% of Ukrainians support the creation of an autocephalous Local Orthodox Church in Ukraine, and 20% are firmly against it, as evidenced by the results of a recent survey conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the sociological Razumkov Center, reports ”Strana”.

The study showed that the rest of the population either does not care (35%), or they have no definite answer (14%). Even among religious people, 40% gave neither an affirmative nor negative answer.

The biggest support for the creation of an autocephalous Church comes from Western (58%) and Central Ukraine (35%).

The creation of an autocephalous Church is not supported in Southern (24% against, 9% for) and Eastern Ukraine (28% against, 10% for), or in Donbass (28% against, 18.5% for).

Additionally, 56.7% of respondents said that governmental authorities should not interfere in the matter of the creation a Local Church. Only 7% believe they should, and 17.1% believe the authorities can make efforts in that direction, but only as a contribution to the independent efforts of the Orthodox Church.

The nationwide survey was conducted from May 19 to 25 in all regions of Ukraine, except for the non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Lugansk. 2019 respondents aged 18 and over were interviewed. The theoretical sampling error is 2.3%. The survey was funded by USAID and carried out by Pact.

In mid-April, Poroshenko turned to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople with a request to grant Tomos on autocephaly to the Church in Ukraine and announced the creation of a Single Local Church. The Verkhovna Rada supported the petition of the President. The Kiev Patriarchate has already stated that they see their leader Filaret, anathematized by the canonical Church, as a SLC head.

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