THE RELIGIOUS FACTORS OF THE UKRAINIAN MENTALITY FORMATION

Abstract

In the modern global world, a study on mentality as a main characteristic of the nation which defines the unity of the religious and cultural tradition of the society is conditioned with the need to develop an effective international religious and cultural cooperation. The purpose of the analysis is to determine religious factors in shaping the Ukrainian mentality taking into account its historical background and the challenges of modernity. The study methodology is based on the principles of the non-confessional approach and philosophical pluralism, involving a system of methods, namely: historical, dialectical, comparative methods, synthesis, and generalization. In the conclusions it is emphasized that mentality is one of the forms of the social experience accumulation, the set of historically accepted ideas, viewpoints, stereotypes, forms and behavior which are laid down is the public consciousness by means of education, culture, religion, a language through the years. Every mental formation has its imaginary lines of a friend and foe which were formed by ideologies, beliefs, and religious values. The religious factors in the formation of mentality reflect the role of the Church as the main regulator of the social life. In the social environment of the Ukrainian nation, a temple can be seen as a peculiar archetypical formation, the part of the landmark, symbolic, communicative, and informational religious system which regulates the public consciousness and it is an integral part of the national memory. The mental archetypes of the national identity stem from the phenomenon of the borderlands, and have shaped in the social context the desire for personal freedom, patriotism, social activity; in the spiritual dimension, it is a willing for the inner world to be protected, sacrifice, mercy, non-violence.