Most Ukrainians consider UOC-KP to be successor of the Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Rus

More than half of Ukrainians (52%) believe that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) --more than any other Church organization -- has the right to be considered as the historical successor of the Orthodox Church, established in Kyivan Rus 1,030 years ago, according to the results of the survey conducted by a sociological research group Rating in August 2018. This is reported by the Den.

12% of those who took part in the poll spoke about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) as the successor, 3% named the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, 2% - Russian Orthodox Church, 5% - other Churches. 27% of respondents could not decide on this issue.

At the same time, almost 70% of those polled consider Ukraine as a successor rather than Russia as the heiress of Kyivan Rus. Only 9% think the opposite. Another 6% believe that neither Ukraine nor the Russian Federation can claim the legacy of the Old Rus State.

Over the last ten years, the number of those who consider Ukraine as the successor of Kyivan Rus has increased -- in 2008, it was 54% -- while the number of those who hold the opposite opinion decreased -- in 2008 they were 18%.

In turn, the number of those who believe that the UOC-KP has the right to be considered the historical successor of the Orthodox Church established in the Kyivan Rus 1,030 years ago has increased more than one and a half times over the past ten years, according to the results of the survey.

The survey was conducted using face-to-face personalized interviews on August 3-10, 2018, among 2,000 Ukrainians aged 18 and above. The sample is representative by age, gender, region and type of settlement. The error of the representativeness of the study is not more than 2.2%.