Religious press

Religious press. Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical serials and periodicals devoted to theology, spirituality, and religious affairs.

Orthodox press. The Russian Orthodox church press of the 19th and early 20th centuries in Russian-ruled Ukraine was exclusively Russian in language and tsarist in spirit. Each eparchy had an official organ, Eparkhial’nye vedomosti, which published official announcements, sermons, articles on theological and church topics, and some articles on local history and ethnography. These semimonthly periodicals were established in Odesa (Kherson eparchy) in 1860, Kyiv (Kyiv eparchy) and Chernihiv in 1861, Kamianets-Podilskyi (Podilia eparchy) in 1862, Poltava (Poltava eparchy) in 1863, Kharkiv (Kharkiv eparchy) and Kremenets (Volhynia eparchy) in 1867, Simferopol in 1869, Katerynoslav in 1872, and Kholm (Kholm eparchy) in 1877. The main religious scholarly journal was Trudy Kievskoi dukhovnoi akademii (est 1860) published by the Kyiv Theological Academy. Others were the monthly Dukhovnyi vestnik (1862–7) in Kharkiv and the Kharkiv Theological Seminary’s weekly and then semimonthly Dukhovnyi dnevnik (1864–5) and semimonthly Vera i razum (1884–1917). In Kyiv the weekly Rukovodstvo dlia sels'kikh pastyrei (est 1860) of the Kyiv Theological Seminary and the monthly Propovednicheskii listok (1882–) helped priests prepare sermons. Other religious periodicals were the weekly Voskresnoe chtenie (est 1837) in Kyiv; the semimonthly Blagovest in Kharkiv (1883–8) and Nizhyn (from 1889); the semimonthly Nastavleniia i utesheniia Sviatoi Very Khristianskoi (est 1887) of the Saint Andrew Skete on Mount Athos, published in Odesa; and the weekly Pochaevskii listok (est 1887), the political-religious organ of the reactionary Union of the Russian People published by the Pochaiv Monastery Press. Part of Kholmskaia Rus' (1912–17), the daily organ of the Kholm Brotherhood of the Holy Mother of God, appeared in Ukrainian.

After the establishment of the Central Rada in 1917, the first short-lived religious periodicals appeared in Ukrainian: the Ministry of Religious Affairs weekly Vira ta derzhava (1918) and daily Slovo (from October 1918), and Kyïvs’kyi pravoslavnyi vistnyk in Kyiv; Pravoslavnaia Volyn’ (1917–21), the organ of Volhynia eparchy, which appeared primarily in Russian but published sermons in Ukrainian, and Svitets’ (ed Nykanor Abramovych) in Zhytomyr; and Tserkovnyi vistnyk (1918) in Zaporizhia. In the early Soviet period the official organ of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church was Tserkva i zhyttia (Kharkiv) (1927–8). Other religious journals were Ukraïns’kyi pravoslavnyi blahovisnyk (1925–32?), of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchal church in Ukraine, and Tserkovni visti (1927), of the so-called Renovationist church. The religious press was almost entirely suppressed during the Stalinist terror of the 1930s. From then in Soviet Ukraine (and from 1945 in annexed Western Ukraine) the only permitted religious journals were the Moscow patriarchate’s Zhurnal Moskovskoi patriarkhii (est 1931) and Pravoslavnyi visnyk (est 1946), the organ of the Ukrainian exarchate of the Russian Orthodox church. These journals were allotted very small pressruns, and their readers were held in great suspicion by the authorities. In contrast, antireligious propaganda was fostered by the regime from the early 1920s, and several journals were published by the state to promote atheism, such as Bezvirnyk (1925–35), Voiovnychyi ateïst (1960–4), and its successor, Liudyna i svit (est 1965).

The Orthodox church in interwar Poland, especially in Volhynia and Warsaw, enjoyed greater freedom than in the USSR. Published in Ukrainian were Pravoslavna Volyn’ (1922) and Tserkva i narid (1935–8) in Kremenets; Na varti (1925–6), Ridna tserkva (1927–8) in Volodymyr-Volynskyi; Dukhovnyi siiach (1927–31) first in Warsaw, then in Kremenets; Dukhovna besida (1924–5) and Nasha besida (1926–7) in Warsaw; and Za sobornist’ (1932–5) and Shliakh (Lutsk) (1937–9) in Lutsk. The Polish scholarly serial of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at Warsaw University, Elpis (1926–37), published some materials in Ukrainian. In Warsaw the metropolitan see published the weekly Pravoslavnyi selianyn (1932–5) and, for children, the monthly Dytyna (1936–8) as supplements to its Russian-language paper, Slovo. The irregular Religiino-naukovyi vistnyk was published in the internment camps for soldiers of the UNR Army in Aleksandrów Kujawski (1921), Szczepiórno (1922), and Skalmierzyce (1923).

In interwar Transcarpathia, Orthodox periodicals were Russophile and appeared in Russian. They were Russkii pravoslavnyi vestnik (1921–2, 1935) in Uzhhorod, which supported the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile; Tserkovnaia pravda (1925), Pravoslavnaia Karpatskaia Rus’ (1928–30), and Pravoslavnaia Rus' (1931–9); Pravoslavnyi karpatorusskii vestnik (1935–8), the organ of Mukachevo eparchy and Prešov eparchy; and Russkoe slovo (1936) in Prešov. After the Second World War Svet Pravoslaviia appeared in Russian before switching to Ukrainian as Holos Pravoslaviia in 1958. After 1958 Zapovit sv. Kyryla i Mefodiia appeared in Ukrainian as the official organ of the Orthodox church in Czechoslovakia.

Each of the major jurisdictions of the émigré Ukrainian Orthodox church has had its own regular organs. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA has published Dnipro (USA) (1922–50), Ukraïns’ke pravoslavne slovo (since 1950), Ukrainian Orthodox Word (since 1967), and the annual Ukraïns’kyi pravoslavnyi kalendar (since 1951). The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America has published the bilingual Ukrainian Orthodox Herald/Ukraïns’kyi pravoslavnyi visnyk since 1928. The organs of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (Conciliar) have been Pravoslavnyi ukraïnets’ (est 1952) and Tserkva i zhyttia (Chicago) (1957–77). The organ of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Exile was the quarterly Zhyttia i tserkva (1956–67). Many parishes, local brotherhoods, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Youth Society have also published their own bulletins and magazines.

In Canada the earliest Orthodox periodicals—Pravoslaviie (1907–8) in Winnipeg, Pravoslavnyi rusin (1911–13) in Mundare, Alberta, and Kanadiiskaia pravoslavnaia Rus’ (1916–17) in Winnipeg—attempted to cultivate Russophile sympathies among Ukrainian immigrants, especially Orthodox settlers from Bukovyna. The first Ukrainian-language periodical was Pravoslavnyi visnyk (est 1924), now Visnyk (Winnipeg), the organ of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (UOCC). A pro-autocephaly faction led by Wasyl Swystun published the bulletin Ridna tserkva (1935–40) in Winnipeg. After the Second World War the UOCC also published several popular journals of theology and church history edited primarily by Metropolitan Ilarion (Ivan Ohiienko), such as Tserkva i narid (Winnipeg) (1949–51), Nasha kul’tura (1951–3), Vira i kul’tura (since 1953), and the annual Calendar (kalendar) Ridna nyva.

After the Second World War Orthodox periodicals emerged in other Western countries to which Ukrainian refugees had emigrated: the irregular Dzvin (est 1950) in Buenos Aires; Ukraïns’ka pravoslavna nyva (1953–74) in Brazil; the quarterly Vidomosti Heneral’noho tserkovnoho upravlinnia UAPTs u Velykii Britaniï (est 1950) in Great Britain; Tserkovnyi visnyk (1945–6), Tserkva i zhyttia (1946), Bohoslovs’kyi visnyk (1948–9), and the quarterly Ridna tserkva (1952–88) in Germany; and Nash holos (est 1952), Pratsia i zhyttia (est 1966), and Ukraïns’ka pravoslavna informatsiina sluzhba (est 1962) in Australia. Most have been organs of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church.

Catholic press. In Western Ukraine the first Ukrainian Catholic periodical was Poucheniia tserkovnyia (1853–4), a supplement to Zoria halytska. The first separate Catholic publications were Tserkovnaia gazeta (1856–8) and Tserkovnyi viestnik dlia rusynov Avstriiskoi derzhavy (1858) in Budapest; both displayed Russophile tendencies and were closed by the Hungarian authorities. Another similar journal was Sion, tserkov’, shkola, a biweekly supplement (1858–9) to Vistnyk (Vienna) in Vienna.

The first Ukrainophile periodical was the semimonthly Ruskii Sion (1871–85) in Lviv. Populist priests published Druh naroda (1876), Rus’ (1885–7), Myr (1885–7), Dushpastyr (Lviv) (1887–98), and Nyva (1904–39) in Lviv and Prapor (Peremyshl) (1897–1900) in Peremyshl. Scholarly journals from that period included the quarterly Bohoslovskii vistnyk (1900–3) and the Russophile Tserkovnyi vostok (1911–14) in Lviv. Students at the Greek Catholic Theological Seminary in Lviv published the quarterly Katolyts’kyi Vskhid (1904–7). The official organs of the Peremyshl Consistory (1874–8) and Vistnyk of the Peremyshl eparchy (1889–1918), Stanyslaviv eparchy (1886–1939), and Lviv eparchy (1889–1944) initially appeared in the artificial yazychiie or etymological spelling. They contained church news, sermons, and articles on theological and historical topics.

The last quarter of the 19th century saw a rapid growth in popular Catholic religious periodicals, such as Slovo Bozhe (1879–81) in Lviv; Kyryl i Metodii (1886) in Jarosław; Poslannyk (1889–1911) in Berezhany, Lviv, Peremyshl, and Ternopil; and Misionar (1897–1944) and, for children, Malyi misionarchyk (1903–14, 1920) in Zhovkva. The political and social journals Ruslan (1897–1914) and Osnova (Lviv) (1906–13) in Lviv also supported the Catholic church and devoted attention to religious issues.

In the interwar period Misionar and Nyva continued to appear, and several new periodicals were published, especially for children and youths. These included Nash pryiatel’ (1922–39), Postup (Lviv) (1921–31), Ukraïns’ke iunatstvo (1933–9), Lytsarstvo Presviatoï Bohorodytsi (1935–9), and Katolyts’ka aktsiia (1934–9). The journal Dzvony (1931–9) published prose, poetry, and articles by Catholic writers; the journals Bohosloviia (1923–39), Analecta Ordinis S. Basilii Magni/Zapysky ChSVV (1924–39), and Dobryi pastyr (1931–9) published scholarly works. The monthly Sivach (1936–9) was dedicated to homiletics and catechism. Newspapers with a Catholic orientation were Nova zoria (1926–39), the weekly Pravda (1927–39), Beskyd (1928–33), Ukraïns’kyi Beskyd (1933–9), the weekly Meta (1931–9), and Khrystos nasha syla (1933–9).

After the Soviet occupation and annexation of Western Ukraine all Catholic periodicals there were closed. After that time Khronika Katolyts’koï tserkvy na Ukraïni and some other publications were circulated as samvydav. After the official reinstatement of the Ukrainian Catholic church in Ukraine, the magazine Vira bat’kiv began to appear in Lviv (1990).

In Uzhhorod, Transcarpathia, the Russophile Society of Saint Basil the Great published the religious, cultural, and political periodicals Svit (Uzhhorod) (1867–71), Karpat’ (1873–86), the newspaper Nauka (1897–1912, 1918–22), and, in Hungarian, Görok Katholikus Szemle (1899–1918). The journal Listok (1885–1903) was similar in content and orientation. The Basilian monastic order published Svitlo (Uzhhorod) (1913–14, 1916) for children. In the interwar period Dushpastyr (1921–41) was the monthly organ of Mukachevo eparchy and Prešov eparchy. Other periodicals in this period were the monthly Da priidet Tsarstvie Tvoe (1928–38), the Russian-language organ of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Prešov, and the Basilian monthly Blahovisnyk (1921–39, 1946–9). After 1968 Blahovestnik, the monthly eparchial organ for Uniate Catholics in Czechoslovakia, was published in Prešov.

The official organ of the Greek Catholic Križevci eparchy in Yugoslavia was Visnyk Kryzhevats’koï eparkhiï.

In the United States of America the forerunners of the Ukrainian Catholic press were the newspaper Ameryka (1886–90) in Shenandoah and Tserkovnaia nauka (1903) in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The first official church organs were Dushpastyr (1908–14), Bishop Soter Ortynsky’s monthly in New York and then Philadelphia and New Britain, Connecticut; the Basilian monthly Misionar (United States) (est 1917) and the weekly Katolyts’kyi provid (1927–8) in Philadelphia; and Nebesnaia tsaritsa (1927–55), the organ of the Byzantine Ruthenian Greek Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. Ameryka (Philadelphia), a Catholic newspaper published five times a week by the Providence Association of Ukrainian Catholics in America, has appeared in Philadelphia since 1912, and the weekly Shliakh has appeared there since 1940. Catholic periodicals founded in the postwar period include Kovcheh (1946–56) in Stamford, Connecticut; the Byzantine Catholic World (est 1956) in Pittsburgh; the weekly Nova zoria (Chicago) (est 1965) in Chicago; Eastern Catholic Life (est 1964) in Passaic, New Jersey; the quarterly Myrianyn (1967–79) in Chicago; the Ukrainian Patriarchal World Federation monthly Patriiarkhat (formerly Za patriiarkhat, est 1967) in Philadelphia; the biweekly Tserkovnyi visnyk (est 1968) in Chicago; and the literary and scholarly quarterly Dzvony (1977–9) in Detroit.

In Canada the first Ukrainian Catholic paper, Kanadiis’kyi rusyn, appeared in Winnipeg in 1911; from 1919 to 1931 it was called Kanadiis’kyi ukraïnets’. The Redemptorist Fathers’s monthly Holos Spasytelia has been published in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, since 1923, and the Basilian monthly Svitlo has been published since 1938 in Mundare, Alberta, and then Toronto. The newspapers Ukraïns’ki visti/Ukrainian News (est 1932) in Edmonton, Nasha meta (est 1949) in Toronto, and Postup (Winnipeg) (est 1959) in Winnipeg served as eparchial organs. Other periodicals were founded in the postwar period: the monthly Mii pryiatel’ (est 1949) for children in Winnipeg; Lohos (1950–83), a theological quarterly, published in Waterford, Ontario, and then Yorkton; the scholarly quarterly Zhyttia i slovo (Toronto) (1948–9) in Toronto; the monthly Ekleziia (1951–64) in Montreal; the Basilian magazine Beacon (est 1966) in Toronto; Za ridnu tserkvu (1966–75), the bimonthly bulletin of the Committee for the Defense of the Rite, Traditions, and Language of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA and Canada, published in Toronto; and Pravda (1969–75), a bimonthly journal published by Oleksander Mokh in Toronto. Many Catholic parishes and national and local lay organizations in Canada and the United States of America have issued their own newsletters and bulletins.

Ukrainian Catholic periodicals have also been published in other countries. They include Misionar (Brazil) (1911–16), Pratsia (Brazil) (est 1912), and Ukraïns’kyi misionar (est 1935) in Brazil; Zhyttia (Argentina) (est 1948), Visnyk Apostol’s’koho ekzarkhatu (est 1968), and Nazareth (est 1973) in Argentina; Tserkva i zhyttia (est 1960) in Australia; Visnyk Ukraïns’koï Hreko-Katolyts’koï Tserkvy v Zakhidnii Evropi (1940, 1945–52) and Slidamy maloï sviatoï (est 1948) in France; Khrystyians’kyi shliakh (1946–7), Khrystos nasha syla (1946–9), and Khrystyians’kyi holos (est 1949) in Germany; Holos Khrysta Cholovikoliubtsia (est 1947) in Belgium; and the quarterly Nasha tserkva (1953 to mid-1960s) in Great Britain. The revived theological-scholarly journals Analecta Ordinis S. Basilii Magni/Zapysky ChSVV (since 1949) and Bohosloviia (since 1962), the irregular bulletin Visti z Rymu (est 1963), and Blahovisnyk, the theological organ (est 1965) of metropolitans Yosyf Slipy and Myroslav Liubachivsky, were published in Rome.

Evangelical press. In interwar Galicia the Ukrainian Evangelical Reformed church published Vira i nauka (1926–30, 1933–9), Ukraïns’ka reformatsiia (1929–31), and Siiach (1932–3), and the Ukrainian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession published Stiah (1932–9), Novyi svit (1934) for children, and Prozry! (1931–9) in Stanyslaviv. Baptists outside Galicia, including immigrants in North America, were served by the monthly Pislanets’ pravdy (1927–39). The Pentecostal church in Volhynia published the monthlies Budivnychyi Tserkvy (1936–9) and Ievanhel’s’kyi holos (1936–9). In Soviet Ukraine, in the 1920s the Russian-language journal Baptist Ukrainy published some articles in Ukrainian. After 1945 Evangelical Christians in Soviet Ukraine were served primarily by the Russian-language bimonthly Bratskii vestnik in Moscow.

In the West the greatest number of Ukrainian Evangelical periodicals have been published in Canada. They include the Presbyterian biweekly Ranok (Winnipeg) (1905–20) in Winnipeg and monthlies Nashe slovo (1933–5) in Oshawa, Ontario, and Ievanhel’s’ka pravda (1940–79) in Toronto; the Baptist weeklies Domashnii pryiatel’ (1909–11) and S’vidok pravdy (1909–25) in Toronto, the bimonthly Khrystyians’kyi visnyk (est 1942) in Winnipeg, and the quarterly Ukraïns’ka nyva (1947–66) in Saskatoon; the Methodist weekly Kanadyiets’ (1912–20) in Edmonton; the United church’s weekly Kanadiis’kyi ranok (1920–61) in Winnipeg; the Ukrainian Bible Student Association’s bimonthly Zorinnia novoï doby i vistnyk prysutnosty Khrysta (est 1937) in Winnipeg; the Ukrainian Independent Reformed church’s bimonthly Slovo (1950–5) in Toronto; the Pentecostal monthly Ievanhelyst (1957–71) and quarterly Ievanhel's'kyi holos (est 1967) in Toronto; and the Ukrainian Evangelical Alliance of North America’s monthly and then quarterly Ievanhel’s’kyi ranok (est 1961) in Toronto. Several other short-lived periodicals have also appeared.

In the United States of America the first Evangelical organ was the Presbyterian weekly Soiuz in New York (1908–11) and Pittsburgh (1912–21). The Pentecostal bimonthly Ievanhel's'kyi palomnyk (est 1941) was published in New York, and the former Galician Baptist Pislanets’ pravdy was published in Chester, Pennsylvania, and then Chicago after 1947. The Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society in the United States has published Vartova bashta and Probudys’ in Brooklyn for Ukrainian Jehovah’s Witnesses. In Argentina the Pentecostal quarterly Ievanhel's'kyi holos (1958–61) and Baptist quarterly/semiannual Ievanhel's'ka zirka (est 1953) have appeared. Baptist periodicals published in other Western countries include the quarterly Dobra novyna (est 1967) in Australia; the quarterly Khrystyianyn and then Visnyk spasinnia (est 1951) in Great Britain; and Doroha pravdy (1946–9), Holos pravdy (1954–60), and the quarterly Nove zhyttia (est 1963) in Germany.

The postwar émigré, non-Christian Ukrainian Native Faith church published in Canada the monthlies Samobutnia Ukraïna (est 1967) and Novi skryzhali (est 1972).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Krevets'kyi, Ivan. ‘Ukraïns'ka katolyts'ka presa: Istorychno-bibliohrafichnyi ohliad v 75-littia ïï isnuvannia,’ Kanadiis’kyi ukraïnets’, 1929, nos 45–6
Doroshenko, Volodymyr. ‘Ukraïns'ka ievanhel's'ka presa (v rr. 1945–1952 po tsei bik zaliznoï zaslony),’ Kanadiis’kyi ranok, 1 July 1952
———. ‘Pokaznyk ukraïns'koï katolyts'koï presy v ZDA,’ Shliakh, 1952, nos 32–3
Vaida, Mykola. ‘Ukraïns'ka katolyts'ka presa v ZDA,’ Ameryka, 25 February 1953
Doroshenko, Volodymyr. ‘Ukraïns'ka katolyts'ka presa v Kanadi v rokakh 1945–62,’ Nasha meta, 14 July–5 August 1962
Mokh, Oleksander. ‘Narysy z istoriï ukraïns'koï katolyts'koï presy,’ Pravda (Toronto), 1975, nos 1–2

Volodymyr Borovsky, Ivan Korovytsky

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]