Pochayiv Monastery in the Past and Present as an Example of Instrumentalization of Religious Memory

• In Event: Present in the Past: Instrumentalisation of the Past in Memory, Mass Culture, and Self-Presentations

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the history of the Pochaiv Lavra, the second most important Orthodox monastery in Ukraine, which at different times in its past was a bastion of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, Greek Catholicism, and Russian Orthodoxy, which led to the simultaneous existence of opposing historical narratives. The paper will pay special attention to the present (2022–2025), highlighting trends in views of the monastery as a bridge uniting the Orthodox and Greek Catholics of Ukraine, considering this phenomenon as an element in the process of decolonization of the Ukrainian religious shrine.

Author

• Walentyna Los, Jagiellonian U (Poland)