UKRAINIANIZATION OF THE LITURGICAL LIFE IN 1917–1918
Authors: Pshenychnyi T. 
Published: February 2021

Socio-political transformations caused by the Ukrainian revolution of 1917–1921, made not only political issues relevant but also cultural and even ideological. In the struggle for statehood could not be ignored church problems that became very popular in society not in 1917, but only in 1918. It is this year that the autocephalous movement in the Ukrainian church space of the centre-region, whose members declared their desire to create a Ukrainian Orthodox Church independent of the Russian Orthodox Church, is appearing and actualized. The article reflects the process of Ukrainianization of liturgical life as an integral part of the autocephalous movement. An example of the activities of Ukrainian composers at the beginning of the 20th century shows their place in the creation of church works in Ukrainian, which became part of the spiritual heritage of Ukraine and the world. In addition, the authors point to the educational movement, which was caused by Ukrainianization of church life and its scale. The Ukrainian church tradition is the heritage of the Ukrainian people. It has been formed for centuries and belongs today to the national cultural heritage of the state. It is based on the spiritual experience of generations, which at the genetic level affects the formation of the mentality of the nation. This metaphysical process goes beyond the limits of human rationality and empiricity and is practically not always guided. Domestic cultural space of Ukraine was formed under the influence of various factors. One of them was the church. The place of the church in the life of the Ukrainian people, of course, should not be underestimated. Soviet historiography attempted to deny this fact, to interpret it in its own, ideologically atheistic dogmas, and order. However, from a historic retrospective, today we have a great opportunity to see that, to a large extent, it was in the church environment that we managed to preserve the original traditions of the Ukrainian people, its sacred legacy, language. The authors aim is to show the phenomenon of Ukrainianization of liturgical life in Ukraine in one of the most dramatic periods in the national history of the twentieth century. 1917 became the frontier in the modern history of Ukraine. Revolutionary events intensified the initiatives of the Ukrainian intelligentsia that long settled on the margins of social consciousness. Competitions for statehood brought to the general churchreligious issues. The All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church Council in 1918, which gave rise to political battles of the time, frankly testified to the presence in the Ukrainian society of the population who sought ecclesiastical autocephaly for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In this regard, the national idea was closely intertwined with the Christian tradition of the people, since the latter was firmly rooted in national culture. Despite all the difficulties that arose during discussions about the theme of the independence of the domestic church space from the Russian Orthodox Church, the Third, the last and the key, the session of the Council became the most significant for the Ukrainian church in the search for its own national identity. She was tried to show through the prism of various factors, in particular – spiritual music and liturgical ritual. Thus, a special Commission on Ukrainianization of the Liturgy was created, which considered the reform of church chants, which included both leading musicians and priests. An urgent issue that was discussed during the meetings of the commission on the Ukrainianization of liturgical life in the Ukrainian church was the introduction of universal church singing in Ukrainian churches. Ultimately, one of the key consequences of the church debate during the First All-Ukrainian Church Council was the question of Ukrainianization of the Ukrainian church in general and its clear separation from the Russian cultural space. Thus, analyzing the entire spectrum of socio-political processes at the end of 1917 – early 1919, we can state the fact that for the first time in many decades Ukrainians have had a real chance to declare themselves on the geographical and political map of Europe.