This complicated story started with the split of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) after Ukraine became a separate state with the crash of the USSR in 1991. At that time, UOC was formally a part of the Russia-based Moscow Patriarchate. In the 1990s, Metropolitan Filaret of Kyiv, without any sanction, formed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate. His actions caused protests from both Moscow and Constantinople. But this was favored by the Ukrainian nationalistic authorities who sought aggressive nation-building in all forms, including religion. Thus, the schismatic church became a political weapon in the hands of the country’s politicians. Nevertheless, despite all the efforts of the nationalists, the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) remained a small sect, while most of the Ukrainians traditionally went to the canonical churches of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP).