The struggle to preserve their cultural identity has long been a central theme in the history of the Ukrainians.
Constantly ruled by foreign powers they were repeatedly exposed to attempts to assimilate them into the dominant culture. In the 16th century, as the Orthodox Ukrainians came into ever closer proximity with the Catholic Poles, an intense confrontation developed that flared up into religious/cultural warfare.
Formulated primarily in terms of Orthodoxy and Catholicism – religion was the preeminent ideological issue for all Europeans at this time – this confrontation sparked the first major ideological debate in Ukrainian history. Although it focused on purely religious issues such as whether the Orthodox or the Catholic church could best assure the salvation of one’s soul, it also posed questions that have become perennial in Ukrainian history – namely, whether the Ukrainian cultural heritage was doomed to extinction or capable of survival.
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