Ukraine’s Orthodox churches and the fight for the country’s soul

, as Russian missiles fell, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, spoke of war on a different front. His government, he said, will pass a law banning religious organisations with links to centres of power in Russia. He vowed that he would “never allow anyone to build an empire inside the Ukrainian soul”. The bill has not yet been drafted, and it is unclear what Mr Zelensky’s plans will mean in practice. His target, however, is clear: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (), one of in the country. In Soviet times the was part of the Russian church; when the Soviet Union fell it was granted self-governing status, but remained under the authority of the Moscow patriarchate. The other church—which has almost the same name, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine ()—emerged out of two unrecognised independent churches, which merged in 2018. The and the have almost identical rites, but each considers itself the legitimate national church.