Halyna Lozko () ( Yelanets, , b. 3 February 1952 in
Mykolaiv Oblast
Mykolaiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Mykolaivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Mykolaiv. At the most recent estimate, the population ...
) is a Ukrainian ethnologist, theologian and neopagan leader. In 1993 she founded the group Pravoslavia in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
, which adheres to
Slavic Native Faith
The Slavic Native Faith, commonly known as Rodnovery and sometimes as Slavic Neopaganism, is a modern Paganism, modern Pagan religion. Classified as a new religious movement, its practitioners hearken back to the Slavic paganism, historica ...
in the tradition established by Volodymyr Shaian. Lozko also co-founded the Native Faith Association of Ukraine (, ORU), founded in 1998 and registered on 24 May 2001.
Biography
Early life
Halyna Lozko was born in Yelanets,
Mykolaiv Oblast
Mykolaiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Mykolaivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Mykolaiv. At the most recent estimate, the population ...
, on 3 February 1952.
Education and academic career
*1969. –
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
high school No. 140.
*1977. – Faculty of Philology of
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...
department of Philology, teacher of Ukrainian language and literature.
*1996. – PhD candidacy – Department of Religious studies of Institute of Philosophy of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences (); thesis topic: "Ukrainian paganism as a source for domestic religious syncretism" () (specialization 09.00.11 – religious studies).
*2007. – PhD of Philosophy – Department of Religious studies of Faculty of Philosophy of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv; thesis topic: "Actualization of Ukrainian ethnic religion in European context" () (specialization 09.00.12 –
Ukrainian studies
Ukrainian studies is an interdisciplinary field of research dedicated to Ukrainian language, Ukrainian literature, literature, History of Ukraine, history and Ukrainian culture, culture in a broad sense.
Ukrainian studies outside Ukraine
A numb ...
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
-based
Slavic Native Faith
The Slavic Native Faith, commonly known as Rodnovery and sometimes as Slavic Neopaganism, is a modern Paganism, modern Pagan religion. Classified as a new religious movement, its practitioners hearken back to the Slavic paganism, historica ...
group Pravoslavia. This was Ukraine's first post-Soviet neopagan organization in the
polytheistic
Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...
tradition that first had been established in the interwar period by Volodymyr Shaian (1908 – 1974). During the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
Ukrainian diaspora
The Ukrainian diaspora comprises Ukrainians and their descendants who live outside Ukraine around the world, especially those who maintain some kind of connection to the land of their ancestors and maintain their feeling of Ukrainian national ide ...
in the West, and Lozko was initiated by Myroslav Sytnyk in
Hamilton
Hamilton may refer to:
* Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
* ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
, Canada. She has also launched projects such as the Svitovyd Center for the Rebirth of Ukrainian Culture, the School of the Native Faith, the Museum of the Book of Veles (1996–1998) and the journal ''Svaroh''. She co-founded the Native Faith Association of Ukraine (Об'єднання Рідновірів Україн, ORU) in 1998, to coordinate activities between different local groups. ORU was officially registered as a pagan religious organization in 2001. It has made an effort to establish a comprehensive system for regular calendar ritualism. It has also been active in the neopagan interfaith activities of the
European Congress of Ethnic Religions
European Congress of Ethnic Religions (ECER) is an organisation for cooperation among associations that promote the ethnic religions of Europe.Viktor Kryzhanovsky, Petro Kachalaba, Elena Gaydamaka, Київ: „Такі справи“, 2006.
* Лозко Г. С. ''Рідна читанка.'' Для середнього шкільного віку – Вінниця, Континент-Прим, 2007.
* more than hundred articles and papers in journals
Collaboration on academic and encyclopedic publications
* Dictionary of religious terms (), Kyiv, 1996.,
* Little encyclopedia of ethnic state managing (), Kyiv, 1996.,
* History of religiins in Ukraine in 10 volumes (), Kyiv, , 1996–2004;
* Academic religious studies (), Kyiv, 2000.,