Kiev, December 9, 2021
Photo: risu.ua
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, is the most influential spiritual leader in Ukraine, according to the International Expert Club and the ElitExpert rating agency.
Met. Onuphry enjoys the great love and respect of his flock, which is by far the largest of all religious organizations in Ukraine.
The list of the 100 most influential figures in Ukraine was drawn up by an expert group of professionals in the fields of political science, sociology, economics, law, and media, after several months of in-depth study. Spiritual leaders were ranked according to their activity and the breadth of their sphere of influence, reports elitukraine.com.
The top spots overall are mainly occupied by governmental and business figures. At #40 overall, Met. Onuphry is the highest ranked religious leader.
His Beatitude is routinely recognized as among the most influential Ukrainians. According to the results of a reader poll on Focus a year ago, Met. Onuphry is the second most influential Ukrainian overall.
Epiphany Dumenko, the head of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” comes in at #48 in the new ranking, and Svyatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Catholic church, comes in at #72.
Vadim Novinsky, a Ukrainian Deputy who defends the rights of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is ranked at #26. He was also recently ordained a deacon of the canonical Ukrainian Church, though he is ranked as a politician, not a religious figure.
The expert group also studied the most influential figures in the various regions of Ukraine, and a number of Ukrainian Orthodox hierarchs were also recognized in their respective regions, including Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye, Metropolitan Pitirim of Nikolaev and Ochakov, Metropolitan Agafangel of Odessa and Izmail, Metropolitan Philipp of Poltava and Mirgorod, Metropolitan Evlogy of Sumy and Akhtirka, Metropolitan John of Kherson and Tauridz, and Metropolitan Ambrose of Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky.
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