MODERN THREATS TO THE RELIGIOUS SECURITY OF UKRAINIANS IN THE DIASPORA

The article is devoted to the problem of dangers faced by Ukrainians in the diaspora today. In addition to global challenges (environmental, energy, financial, resource, migration, etc.), there are specific threats to the spiritual and religious life of mankind, including and Ukrainians. Largescale secularization and dehumanization of the world is dangerous for everyone. People are at risk of losing their cultural, ethno-national and religious identity. These processes are especially threatening for those who living outside their country of origin, in the diaspora, where the connection with the motherland is rapidly lost. The author analyzes the problems experienced by the current Ukrainian diaspora. Among them are 1) historical problems that date back to the first wave of emigration, which were only exacerbated during the next, second, third and fourth; 2) psychological, which are determined by the nature of Ukrainians; 3) socio-economic, which determine the social status of members of the diaspora; 4) political, exacerbating the heterogeneity of the Ukrainian diaspora environment; 5) cultural, which on the one hand ensure the entry of Ukrainians into global culture, and on the other – preserve them as a relatively autonomous ethnic group. But there are also religious challenges associated with the general dereligiousization of modern society. Secularized Ukrainians who migrate from Ukraine, where they have not been attached to religious traditions and have been brought up in a non-religious spirit, do not become members of Ukrainian churches abroad. The number of Ukrainian believers in the diaspora is declining. In addition, Russian Orthodox structures operating outside Russia are actively dragging Ukrainians into their communities, eroding their own Ukrainian identity. Ukrainian Greek Catholics are being denationalized and deconfessionalized too. The Protestant churches, which unite religious emigrants from the former Soviet republics, are dominated by the Russian component, which influences the original ethno-religious identity of Ukrainians. Taken together, these dangers pose a question of existential importance to Ukrainians in the diaspora – whether Ukrainians in the diaspora will survive as a valuable part of global humanity, as an integral element of World's Ukrainians, as the citizens of the respective state and the members of civil society.