Ministry of Culture recognizes UOC as the most powerful denomination in Ukraine (VIDEO)

One-third of all clergymen, two-third of all Orthodox parishes, three-third of all students in theological schools and nearly all the Orthodox monkhood refers to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Such data are cited by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, reports the UOC Information and Education Department.

The current report of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine "On the network of churches and religious organizations in Ukraine" states that as of January 1, 2017, one third of the clergy in Ukraine (10289 people) belong to the UOC. By the way, these figures for almost 2000 people are underestimated in comparison with the statistics available in the Kiev Metropolitanate of the UOC. These clergymen are engaged in the pastoral care of 12653 religious communities across the territory of Ukraine. The number of these communities is twice as large as the total number of communities of all religious organizations reported , who call themselves Orthodox (UOC-KP, UAOC, Old Believer Church, etc.).

Equally poignant is the statistics on monasticism. According to the Ministry of Culture, there are 4807 monks and nuns in 208 monasteries of the UOC. To understand if it is little or much, it is enough to note that those in monkhood within the UOC are almost 20 times more than in all other religious organizations that call themselves Orthodox. For example, at the UOC-KP there are 3-4 monks per monastery, and in the UAOC – 1-2.

Data on the availability of spiritual schools and students allow us to assess the potential for the recovery of theological staff in the future. According to the aforementioned data in the report of the Ministry of Culture, a quarter of all students of religious Ukraine studies in 19 theological educational institutions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: these are 4788 people. That makes 75% of all Ukrainians who seek spiritual education and associate their lives with ministry.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has 3,986 Sunday schools and 135 media outlets (of which 93 are printed, 6 are audiovisual and 36 are electronic).

The report presented by the Ministry of Culture denies the data of some sociological organizations that the level of support of the UOC among the population of Ukraine is lower than the way Ukrainians support dissenters and Uniates.