THE SOVIET NARRATIVE OF THE «ENEMY CHURCH» IN THE CONTEXT OF CULTIVATING THE MYTH ABOUT THE UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE UKRAINIAN DIASPORA

The article presents the scope of activities of the Soviet special services and the structures controlled by them, which operated under the patronage of the Russian Orthodox Church, outside the borders of the Soviet Union. After the liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church at the Lviv pseudo-sobor in 1946 and the establishment of total state control over the church sphere of the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR, the UGCC was able to legally exist and develop in countries worldwide, where there were powerful centers of the Ukrainian diaspora from Galicia. However, even the existence of this church outside the USSR was considered dangerous in Soviet political circles. The functioning of the Ukrainian nationalist movement, supported by the diaspora, was associated with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Therefore, to sever the ties between the Ukrainian diaspora and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and consequently to limit its connections with Ukrainian nationalists, the Soviet special services, with the assistance of the Russian Orthodox Church, launched a large-scale campaign to discredit the UGCC among the Ukrainian diaspora in 1946. The article also demonstrates the participation in this process of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church and its controlled organizations, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church itself outside the USSR. Undoubtedly, the presented material reflects only one of many segments of a large-scale campaign against the Ukrainian people, their values, traditions, and the national church.