Thesis for obtaining the degree of the Candidate of Historical Sciences on the Specialty – 07.00.01 – History of Ukraine. – Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University, Ternopil, 2021.
The thesis examines the state of the Roman-Catholic (RCC) and the Greek-Catholic Churches (GCC) in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1953–1964 on the basis of complex analysis of the scientific literature, published and archival materials (on the example of Lviv, Drohobych, Stanislav and Ternopil Regions). The state of the RCC and the GCC on the territory of the studied regions of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1953–1964 in chronological order and interrelation with the then policy of the Soviet government towards these religious associations is analyzed. The peculiarities of the state policy of the Soviet government towards the RCC and the GCC in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1953–1964 and the forms and methods of its implementation in Lviv, Drohobych, Stanislav and Ternopil Regions are highlighted. The results of this policy have been clarified.
The object of the study – social and political processes in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1953–1964.
The subject of the study – the peculiarities of the activities of the RCC and the GCC in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (on the example of Lviv, Drohobych, Stanislav and Ternopil Regions) during the studied period.
The aim of project – comprehensive and holistic analysis of the state of the RCC and the GCC in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1953–1964 (on the example of Lviv, Drohobych, Stanislav and Ternopil Regions) in the context of state and religious policy of the Soviet government, determining methods and forms of its application, as well as clarifying the results of this policy.
The scientific novelty of the project is that for the first time: the author’s periodization of party-state policy towards the Roman Catholic and the Greek Catholic communities during the period of liberalization (1953–1958) is proposed; a number of archival materials that highlight the peculiarities of the Soviet government’s policy in the religious sphere in Lviv, Drohobych, Stanislav and Ternopil Regions are introduced; a comprehensive analysis of the situation and activities of the RCC and the GCC in Drohobych Region in comparison with Lviv, Stanislav and Ternopil Regions is performed; the peculiarities of cooperation between the hierarchs of Drohobych-Sambir eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church Mykhailo Melnyk (February 25, 1946 – October 9, 1955), Antonii Pelvetskyi (October 19, 1955 – September 27, 1956), Hryhorii Zakaliak (September 27, 1956 – May 21, 1959) with the regional commissioners of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church in the process of Orthodoxization of the «reunited» communities and the clergy were clarified; the thesis that the large-scale administrative pressure and increased atheistic propaganda by the state on Roman Catholic communities in 1959–1964 led to a weakening of the influence of the Roman Catholic clergy on the faithful and significant material losses in the studied areas was supplemented.
Practical value of the study is the possibility of using specific factual material, theoretical provisions and conclusions of the thesis for further research on the history of the RCC and the GCC in the twentieth century.
Methodological basis of the thesis. The thesis of the study is based on the general scientific principles of historicism, objectivity, systematization, non-confessionalism, tolerance and priority of documents.
The following methods were used in the study: general scientific (abstraction, generalization, deduction, induction), empirical-theoretical (analysis, synthesis) and specific-scientific (historical-genetic, comparative, periodization, diachronic, synchronous, historical-systemic, statistical).
