The chapter focuses on the memory of the people killed during the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine called the “Heavenly Hundred” and which has contributed to the sacralization of protests in the country. It argues that this narrative is formed as “post-secular sacred” which allows a sacralized representation of the victims as martyrs without giving them a canonical status of martyrs recognized by the Church. Such sacralization without canonization is possible because the established tradition to represent fighters for national freedom as martyrs and saints serves as a mold for the memory of the Heavenly Hundred. In addition, the present moment of the war shapes this memory as a matter of national security. It provides the memory with the sense of immediacy and urgency in which the questions of canonicity can be ignored. 

Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s unprovoked war came as a surprise for many international commentators in the wake of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. In Ukraine, though, most people were surprised not by their own reaction against the aggression but by the reactions of those commentators who did not believe in Ukrainians’ readiness to fight back. As Olesya Khromeychuk writes, In 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine offered the world a new narrative about itself: it was no longer perceived as a nation of leather-jacketed rifraf from the edge of Europe, ruled by dodgy oligarchs with large wallets and poor taste. It was a new incarnation of brave David unafraid of monstrous Goliath. The narrative caught on – because who doesn’t like agood remake of an old story? For the first couple of months after the fullscale invasion, Ukrainians gathered all their resources to survive and endure. These months were decisive for both the survival of Ukraineas a sovereign state and the people’s perception of themselves. As Poberezhna, Burlyuk and van Heelsum argue, for the first three months of the full-scale war, Ukrainian society produced a whole range of political myths of a superheroarmy, courageous Ukrainian people anda sacred enchanted land. As scholars argue, these political myths without doubt contributed to strengthening the ontological securityof Ukrainians. In this way, actions gave rise tonew self-perceptions and self-perceptions, in their turn, strengthened and perpetuated the actions (of resistance). By believing in their courage and in a just fight, Ukrainian society demonstrated even more courage and diligence.

In this chapter, I analyze uses of the past in the official discourses of the Orthodox Churches in Ukraine from 1988 to 2018 using the example of the celebration of anniversaries of the Christianization of Kyivan Rus’. My main argument is that each Orthodox Church makes references to the past as it attempts to position itself as the ‘patrimonial Church’, namely, the most traditional and historically justified church for Ukrainian society. I propose a theory that applies the concept of a patrimonializing process to post-Soviet Ukraine in order to better explain a religious situation in which Church-building goes in parallel with nation- and state-building.

In this introduction, we reflect on the relationship between religion and memory, a subfield that should, as we argue, become more visible within memory studies. First, we show how religion was originally conceptualized by the founders of memory studies and how it is being discussed today by contemporary memory scholars. Second, we demonstrate the memory-forming potential of religion. Finally, we call for a postsecular turn in memory studies. We claim that such a critical turn could help memory scholars be more reflective and become more aware of the religious roots of the concepts they are using when they approach memory. It would also help them to grasp how much the religious and the secular interwind in the memory processes occurring in the heterogenous societies of the present-day world.

The book argues that religion is a system of significant meanings that have an impact on other systems and spheres of social life, including cultural memory.

The editors call for a postsecular turn in memory studies which would provide a more reflective and meaningful approach to the constant interplay between the religious and the secular. This opens up new perspectives on the intersection of memory and religion and helps memory scholars become more aware of the religious roots of the language they are using in their studies of memory. By drawing on examples from different parts of the world, the contributors to this volume explain how the interactions between the religious and the secular produce new memory forms and content in the heterogenous societies of the present-day world. These analyzed cases demonstrate that religion has a significant impact on cultural memory, family memory and the contemporary politics of history in secularized societies. At the same time, politics, grassroots movements and different secular agents and processes have so much influence on the formation of memory by religious actors that even religious, ecclesiastic and confessional memories are affected by the secular.

This volume is ideal for students and scholars of memory studies, religious studies and history.