Yermak appoints Presidential Office’s religion adviser
Selfie of Tytarenko with Patriarch Bartholomew and Dumenko. Photo: Tytarenko’s Facebook
Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak announced that, as part of an internal reform, Viktoriya Tytarenko has been appointed curator for religion.
“Vita will be working on projects in the spheres of culture, history, and religion, as well as cooperating with the Institute of National Memory. She will begin her duties next week,” Yermak wrote.
How her role will intersect with the State Service for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) was left unspecified.
Tytarenko is a scholar of religion, having defended both her Candidate and Doctoral theses in religious studies. She has taught in Kyiv universities and worked at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Notably, she received a certificate of merit from Epifaniy Dumenko “for participation in the establishment of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the attainment of the Tomos.”
Her appointment can be interpreted as a signal of the President’s Office further tightening control over religious policy.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that DESS had filed a lawsuit against the Kyiv Metropolis of the UOC.
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