The thesis research presents compound reference to explication on problem of secularization in the legacy of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic philosopher and theologian Havryiil Kostelnyk (1886-1948). The research subject includes three aspects: first, the way H. Kostelnyk understood origins and meaning of secularization process, second, the manner he perceived methods to counteract secularization, third, how secularization influenced religious beliefs of Kostelnyk himself. The first aspect is clarified when we study concept of theoretical and mental origins of secularization process worked out by Kostelnyk (first of all, how scientific development influences expansion of atheism), the way Kostelnyk placed political ideologies in secularization scheme, features which distinguished Kostelnyk’s perception of secularizing factors in Ukrainian literature. Second aspect unfolds within studying apologetic works by Kostelnyk, his concept of co-existence of the Church and secularized state, and vision of anti-secularistic and ecumenical prospects of Ukrainian Christianity. Third aspect pierces each analysis of mentioned topics as Kostelnyk showed inner secularization when we studied origins and meaning of secularization process and how he understood methods to counteract the process.
Kostelnyk’s intellectual positon resembles the one of Catholic modernism due to particular features, i.e. it’s notable for psychologized understanding of religion, attempts to adjust Christian mind-set to achievements of secular sciences, doctrinal relativism, sceptical attitude to Thomistic tradition, criticism for Primacy of the Pope as the one created due to political reasons.
Having researched the way Kostelnyk perceived mental origins and demonstration of secularization, we should highlight such concepts as «physicalism», «sense of absence of mystique», «healthy consciousness». Careful heed is paid to controversies in Kostelnyk’s understanding how scientific development influences expansion of atheism. The thesis researched distinguished features of the way Kostelnyk perceived ideology of liberalism, communism and nationalism. Of great importance is inconsequence in understanding of nationalism. In the thesis analyses distinguished features of the manner H. Kostelnyk perceived the aspects of Ukrainian literature which at the end of XIX – at the beginning of XX century were deemed as those which threatened Christian religion (in works by T. Shevchenko, I. Franko, V. Vynnychenko).
The apologetic works of Kostelnyk were distinguished on the background of contemporary Ukrainian Greek Catholic apologetic literature. Kostelnyk did not pay much attention to the soteriological and ecclesiological aspects of apologetics. First of all, he tried to protect the Christian faith from the challenges of atheism. Under the analysis of H. Kostelnyk’s beliefs regarding optimal pattern of relations between the Church and secularized state we found out that Kostelnyk didn’t entirely follow Catholic doctrine of that time. We interpret participation of Kostelnyk in events related to spurious Lviv convocation in 1946 considering his ecclesiastic beliefs and his vision of ecumenical and anti-secularistic potential of Ukrainian Christianity. The major factors which influenced shaping of these beliefs became modernist thinking patterns of Kostelnyk, as well as his ambitious nature which he applied to the whole Greek Catholic Galician Metropolitanate. It was modernist and doctrinal relativism and the fact that he believed in messianic significance of Galician Metropolitanate which made Kostelnyk reject Primacy of the Pope and project plans to separate Galician Metropolitanate from Rome.
