Lozko G. Actualization of the Ukrainian Ethnic Religion in a European Context.

The thesis for the doctor's degree is dedicated to a new philosophical problem connected with the actualization of ethnic religion (native faith) in the Ukraine and similar processes in the countries of Europe. Ukrainian paganism is shown as a spiritual and cultural phenomenon in the history of an ethno that is included in the genetic memory of a nation through its world view, morality, traditions and rites. The phenomenon of native faith consists of conserving and self-replicating the nation's values. Such an actualization can take place in the subconscious of the bearers of the ethnic culture as original "remembering" of the collective experience of the ancestors by some representatives of the nation. Thus, ethnic religion (paganism) is a natural generator of traditional ethnic life and a manager of its vital area and morality. The guarantor of national integrity is the ethnic group with its archetypical customs and values. Native faith can be a spiritual system in any historical period, includingthe modern age, if external factors (wars, enslavement, occupations, assimilative processes) do not put obstacles in the way of its development. Hence, we can conclude that old spiritual traditions, which were founded naturally thousands of years ago, have an advantage compared to artificial religious and global doctrines. Ethnic religions show greater vitality, they save their properties to be regenerated and serve as a tool of ethnic (national) self-preservation.