This church is our church? Causes and consequences of the disputes over Orthodox parishes in post-Euromaidan Ukraine

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This paper examines the causes, consequences, and broader significance of conflicts over the institutional belonging of Orthodox parishes that began following the Euromaidan and continue to this date. It argues that ambiguities and contradictions in state legislation governing church–state relations and in ecclesiastical statutes (bylaws) and lived practices of competing Orthodox churches made intra-Orthodox disputes over parishes exceedingly vexing, to the point of being virtually intractable. Ambiguities and contradictions constrained the state’s ability to implement consistent policies nationwide and vested local state actors with considerable discretion when approving or denying parish transfers. Because these ambiguities constrained all actors involved in disputes over parishes before Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, outcomes of disputes over parishes have been highly contingent and ad hoc, sustaining “pluralism by default” in Orthodox affairs. After February 2022, legal battles centring on competing claims over who legitimately belongs to an Orthodox parish continued, but as society and the state decidedly turned against actors and institutions perceived to be “pro-Russian,” intra-Orthodox competition may have entered a new era.