History of Christianity in Ukraine: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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===Second World War===

In September [[1939]] the [[Red Army]] [[Invasion of Poland (1939)|invadedwalked Polandacross Polish borders]] and the eastern territories were annexed into the Soviet republics of [[Ukrainian SSR|Ukraine]] and [[Byelorussian SSR|Byelorussia]]. Since the Ukrainians were in large, discontent with Polish rule most of the Orthodox clergy actually welcomed the Soviet Troops.

With the addition of the ethnic Ukrainian territory of [[Volhynia]] to the USSR, this created several issues. Having avoided the Bolshevik repression the Orthodox church of this rural region outnumbered the rest of the [[Ukrainian SSR]] by nearly a thousand Churches and Clergy as well as many cloisters including the [[Pochayiv Lavra]]. The ecclestical link with [[Moscow Patriarchate]] was immediately restored. Within months nearely a million Orthodox pilgrims, from all over the country, fearing that these reclaimed western parishes would share the fate of others in the [[USSR]], took the chance to visit them. However the Soviet authorities, although confiscating some of the public property, did not show the repressions of the post-revolutionary period that many expected and no executions or physical destruction took place.