On April 26, 2022, Oksana Prokopyuk, a leading research worker at the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”, gave a lecture on “The Kyiv Orthodox Metropolia in the Eighteenth Century: Identity of the Ecclesiastic Elite and Their Donations” at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). The lecture was conducted in the framework of the Project POLY – Polycentricity and Plurality of Premodern Christianities.

The POLY Project is dedicated to the study of premodern Christianities on a global scale and in the long term (the 17th-18th centuries). Methodologically, the project is based on the polycentrism and plurality concepts of premodern Christianities. Currently, the special attention of the German colleagues working under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Birgit Emich, the famous researcher of early modern history, is focused on Kyiv Christianity.

Oksana Prokopyuk’s presentation was a part of a series of lectures by Ukrainian researchers on various aspects of the history of Christianity in Ukraine. The lecture of the Preserve’s employee included an analysis of the history of the Kyiv metropolitanate of the 18th century, as well as a presentation of a specific study on the identity of the Kyiv ecclesiastic elite.

The lecture was followed by a discussion. The audience showed great interest in the history of the Church and religious culture in Ukraine. At the same time, there was a dominant perception of Ukrainian history through the prism of Russian historiography, while openness and willingness to correct views, and most importantly, to change the perspective of vision. The struggle for the history of Ukraine, Ukrainian culture, vision of Ukraine in the world is extremely important in modern conditions. The participation of Ukrainian researchers in international research projects such as POLY contributes to solving this crucial issue.

German colleagues also expressed great concern about the protection of cultural heritage and fund collections in Ukraine during the war.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the President of Goethe University, Prof. Dr. Enrico Schleiff, congratulated the students on the beginning of the summer semester in Ukrainian. He thus emphasized, “Goethe University strongly condemns Russia's aggression and the war against a free and sovereign Ukraine” (UniReport. Nr. 2. 7 April 2022. P. 1).