Survey: Almost three-quarters of Ukrainians consider themselves Orthodox, only 4% associate themselves with the UOC-MP

Almost three quarters of Ukrainians consider themselves Orthodox.

This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

72% of respondents consider themselves Orthodox. At the same time, 54% of them called themselves believers of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, 14% did not identify themselves with a specific patriarchate, and 4% of respondents declared a connection with the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In addition to the Orthodox, 10% of respondents called themselves atheists, 8% — Greek Catholics. Other religions and denominations were mentioned less frequently.

The survey was conducted on July 6-20 by the method of telephone interviews based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers. A total of 2 000 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (except the occupied territories) were interviewed.

The institute emphasized that formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample did not exceed 2.4% for indicators close to 50%, 2.1% for indicators close to 25%, 1.5% for indicators close to 10 %, 1.1% — for indicators close to 5%. Under the conditions of war, in addition to the specified formal error, a certain systematic deviation is added.

• At the beginning of July, representatives of the clergy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) agreed on a "declaration of understanding" at a meeting held on July 5.
• On May 12, the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) published a statement in which it noted that "the activities of the previous government and the OCU became one of the reasons for the military invasion of Ukraine."
• On May 13, Derzhetnopolitika called it an incitement to enmity and a justification for war. Later, the Verkhovna Rada registered a draft law banning the Moscow Patriarchate on the territory of Ukraine.
• The Primate of the OCU, Metropolitan Epiphany of Kyiv, appealed to Prime Minister Denys Shmygal with a request to immediately provide one of the temples on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra for the services of the OCU.