ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how, in the big post-Soviet countries of Ukraine and Russia, national rhetoric and ideology are employed by religious organizations and leaders. It examines how the relationship between nationalism and religion is cemented in practice at the state level, and discusses perceptions of religious nationalism by religious leaders and ordinary believers. Ukraine follows a pluralistic model. Russia, by contrast, adheres to an authoritarian policy, with patronage of ‘traditional’ religions (with a special role for Orthodoxy) and a wary attitude towards ‘non-traditional’ religions. Despite these differences, at the level of state policy the relationship between nationalism and religion is built in a similar way in both countries. In Russia the Orthodox Church acts as a state church; in Ukraine the authorities emphasize the idea of the national Ukrainian Church. The chapter argues that in both cases the state adopts so-called ‘instrumental pious nationalism.’
