Religious Freedom versus National Security: The Case of the Ukrainian Church of (not) the Moscow Patriarchate

The Eastern Studies Department and the Regional and Global Studies Department of the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies (University of Warsaw) cordially invites to the lecture of Dr. Dmytro Vovk titled

Religious Freedom versus National Security: The Case of the Ukrainian Church of (not) the Moscow Patriarchate

Dmytro Vovk will explore the dynamics of relations between the Ukrainian state and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church historically and ecclesiastically affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate in times of the Russian aggression. While the state communicates restrictive measures imposed or to be imposed on the church as necessities to protect national security, Vovk will argue that these measures is a part a broader decolonization and de-Russification agenda, which is supported by Ukrainian society and promoted by various actors from mainstream media to institutional academia. The key question, however, is whether social othering of an allegedly disloyal church is enough to ban or severely restrict its operation in the country.

Dmytro Vovk is a visiting associate professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and the director of the Center for the Rule of Law and Religion Studies at Yaroslav Mudryi National University in Ukraine

 The lecture will be in English and take place on Tuesday, 19 December. Time: 6.30pm

The venue: room 317, Collegium Politicum (Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28)