Spiritual Music as a Factor of Religious Identity in Ukrainian Orthodoxy

This scholarly article explores current challenges and spiritual-cultural trends arising in the context of historical events and civilizational transformations experienced by modern Ukraine. The study focuses on the revival of authentic traditions of sacred musical art within Ukrainian Orthodoxy, regarded as one of the fundamental factors in the formation of national identity. Within an interdisciplinary approach that combines religious studies, philosophy, art history, and cultural studies, the research analyzes the musical sacredness as a phenomenon of numinous experience imbued with transcendental meaning and cathartic energy. It is established that the spiritual music of the Orthodox tradition functions as a form of irrational union with the Absolute, representing a sacred-symbolic model of communication with the Creator. This music emerges not only as an aesthetic phenomenon but also as a specific way of expressing a prayerful dialogue rooted in the liturgy of the Orthodox Church. Spiritual music serves as a symbolic form through which the language of sacred art acquires theological and anthropological significance, embodying an appeal to the Source of Being. It is emphasized that the spiritual musical art of Orthodoxy is not merely an acoustic phenomenon but a semantic attunement of consciousness to religious-ontological experience. Thanks to the creative works of brilliant composers of the past, sacred music appears as an energetic carrier of divine presence, operating through acoustic and sensory expressions within traditional culture. Prayerful singing, as a verbal embodiment of the sacred, serves as a mediator between the earthly and the heavenly, revealing the profound essence of Christian symbolism. Thus, Ukrainian spiritual musical art is presented as a phenomenon of sacralized cultural heritage, in which the mystical dimension of Christian faith is revealed, and the personal essence of God is unveiled within the historical-religious continuity of the Orthodox tradition.