Authors

Nadia Zasanska¹;  ¹ Europa-Universität Flensburg, Germany

Discussion

The study addresses the growing presence of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) in the social media of Ukraine after the full-scale invasion of Russia in 2022. The UGCC, a religious minority church (8% of all believers), strengthened its communicative strategy of "open church" to address and bind all people of Ukraine regardless of their religious self-identification. Such a strategy also re-activates the UGCC’s own model of resilience and survival inherited from the Soviet past when the Greek-Catholic church was severely persecuted and repressed.   Based on the study of new social media projects of the UGCC after Russia’s invasion in 2022, the study indicates that the influence of the UGCC in Ukrainian society goes beyond its apostolic mission in the region (Western Ukraine) due to numerous social initiatives of the church in Ukrainian society as well as its growing digital presence in public discourse. By "opening its doors"  to everyone, the church loses its minority status in the religious landscape of Ukraine, gaining more recognition, approval and trust from Ukrainian society.