History of Christianity in Ukraine - Early History

Early History

Christianity was most likely first introduced into the lands of present-day Ukraine by the Goths, who established the Chernyakhov culture in the 2nd century. Although not a Christian people as a whole, the incoming Ostrogoths certainly had relations with Christian centres such as Rome and had come across missionaries in the lands they had previously inhabited; it is therefore believed that some of the Gothic inhabitants of Oium were Christian, as they had established churches in other lands occupied by the Goths. However, the Gothic control over the area proved to be short-lived, as the Hunnic Empire swept into the area in the 4th century, making any lasting impression by the Goths unlikely.

Metropolitan Ilarion (Ivan Ohienko) and other scholars have suggested that earlier Trypillian and Scythian religious practices, and hierarchical pantheism, influenced Christianity's later development in Ukraine.

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