The Role of Pavlo Pohorilko in the Formation of the Spiritual Landscape of Podillia: History and Contemporary Relevance

Abstract

.  This article provides a comprehensive study of the religious and public activity of Pavlo Pohorilko, a prominent figure in Ukrainian ecclesiastical life of the 1920s, within the context of transformative processes in the Podillia region during the formation of Soviet anti-religious policy. The aim of the study is to reconstruct Pohorilko’s biographical and pastoral trajectory in the context of state-confessional relations in the Ukrainian SSR, as well as to analyze his role in the establishment and development of the Brotherhood Association of Parishes of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (BOPUPAC) as one of the manifestations of church pluralism in the first third of the 20th century.

The chronological framework of the research spans from 1919 to 1925 — from the beginning of Pohorilko’s involvement in the autocephalous movement to the final decline of the church association he had organized.

The methodological foundation of the study includes problem-chronological, historical-biographical, and comparative methods, based on a source base composed of archival documents, legal acts of the 1920s, personal correspondence of church figures, and reports of the Soviet GPU.

The study establishes that the figure of Pavlo Pohorilko not only reflects the stages of institutional development of the Ukrainian autocephalous movement but also embodies the contradictions between national-cultural revival and the instrumentalization of religion by the Soviet authorities. The process of marginalization and gradual decline of the association he founded, which was viewed by the regime as an effective tool for dividing the confessional environment, is also explored.

The scientific novelty of the research lies in the detailed reconstruction of the role of a relatively obscure actor whose activity illustrates the mechanisms of local religious mobilization and the impact of personal agency on structural changes in the ecclesiastical sphere. The practical significance of the study consists in its potential use for further academic inquiries into the religious history of Podillia, inter-confessional relations, and the dynamics of church-state interaction under totalitarian regimes.

The conclusions demonstrate that Pohorilko’s activity played a key role in shaping the regional church landscape of Podillia, while the phenomenon of “Pohorilkivshchyna” represents a unique interaction of personal influence, geopolitical transformation, and confessional identity amid socio-political turbulence.