The Baháʼí Faith in Ukraine began during the policy of oppression of religion in the former Soviet Union. Before that time, Ukraine, as part of the Russian Empire, would have had indirect contact with the Baháʼí Faith as far back as 1847. Following the Ukrainian diasporas, succeeding generations of ethnic Ukrainians became Baháʼís and some have interacted with Ukraine previous to development of the religion in the country which began rising as the region approached the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. As of around 2008 there were around a thousand known Baháʼís in Ukraine according to the community's national governing body, in 13 communities. International data reviewer Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) listed 227 Bahá'ís in 2010, and in 2021 a study found 12 Bahá'í communities in the country, placing it at among the smallest minority religions in the country. National observances of Bahá'í Holy Days had occurred in recent years.
History of the region
As part of the Russian Empire The earliest relationship between the Baháʼí Faith and Ukraine comes under the sphere of the country's history within the Russian Empire. During that time, the history stretches back to 1847 when the Russian ambassador to Tehran, Prince Dimitri Ivanovich Dolgorukov, requested that the Báb, the herald to the Baháʼí Faith who was imprisoned at Maku, be moved elsewhere; he also condemned the massacres of Iranian religionists, and asked for the release of Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith. In 1884 Leo Tolstoy first heard of the Baháʼí Faith and was sympathetic to some of its teachings. Also orientalist Alexander Tumansky translated some Baháʼí literature into Russian in 1899. and associated with Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl. In the 1880s an organized community of Baháʼís was in Ashgabat and later built the first Baháʼí House of Worship in 1913-1918.
In the 1890s, the woman known as Isabella Grinevskaya settled in Odessa. In 1903 she published a play "Báb" based on the life an events of the founder of the Bábí religion which was performed in St. Petersburg in 1904 and again in 1916/7, was translated into French and Tatar, the language of the indigenous Tatars of the Crimea, and lauded by Leo Tolstoy and other reviewers at the time. In 1910 she settled in Constantinople and after meeting ʻAbdu'l-Bahá became a member of the Baháʼí Faith.
Around the same time period, (about 1910,) Albert K. Caillet, president of the Société Unitive and editor and founder of the Bulletin de la Société Unitive, published an article about 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the religion, and also announced plans for a new magazine, Revue Universelle (Universala Unuigo), which would review progressive movements including the religion. It was soon established and edited by Nikolai Sheierman in Liubotyn, Ukraine. Scholar on the Bahá'í Faith Amín Egea says: "The first article of the first issue of this periodical was dedicated to the Bahá'í Faith. Since the magazine was bilingual, the article, covering 11 pages, was printed in both Esperanto and Russian. It provided a lengthy, sympathetic and accurate introduction to the Bahá'í Faith. Among the works that the author - probably Sheierman himself - listed in the bibliography were two works in Russian: Atrpet's article "Babizm i Bekhaizm" included in his Imamat: Strana Poklonnikov Imamov (1909); and a translation into Russian of Sydney Sprague's The Story of the Bahá'í Movement (1908), which was translated by A. Kovalev from the Esperanto translation of William Mann.”
About 1919 Alexandra (later known as "Ola" or "Oleńka") Rutowska, later Mrs. Pawłowski, who joined the religion in 1947 and became a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh in 1953 for St Pierre and Miquelon, was traveling through parts of Poland as a young lady. After leaving Cracow she came to Vyshnivchyk and traveled by the Strypa River, a region of Ukrainians although a few spoke Polish. She visited Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches and the shrine at Zarvanytsia, had a memorable encounter with a deer and on another occasion in the woods with a Ukrainian peasant woman returning from working in the fields of wheat and was returning home with some urgency to feed her children and send one of them with food for her husband. In the words of her biographer, "This was a very telling encounter for Oleńka and one that she would frequently recall throughout her life. It underscored the strong bond of sympathy she felt for the peasants and servants in her life. ... Yet at the same time, in her youth she was already showing signs of the imprint of her class. A certain assumption of authority was never to leave her. All her life, even under the most trying circumstances, she could stand on her dignity. Often her democratic spirit and sympathies for the oppressed appeared at variance with her haughty manner. Her heart led, but her manner had been shaped by the circumstances of her birth."
Soviet period Ukrainians in the Diaspora There have been several Baháʼí connections and converts among people of the Ukrainian diasporas. During the early Soviet period, there was another connection with the Bahá'ís when a bust of 'Abdu'l-Bahá was accomplished by Nicolas Sokolnitsky, native of Kyiv, and a Ukrainian diaspora, after comments from 1936 through a visit to his studio in Paris. He was a student of Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
Anne Slastiona Lynch was of Ukrainian descent, however "While it might seem more appropriate to consider Anne Lynch the first Ukrainian Bahá’í, it was Mrs. Lynch herself who gave the distinction to Vasyl Doroshcnko."
As early as 1954 Canadian Peter Pihichyn of Ukrainian descent translated Baháʼí literature into Ukrainian and by 1963 a Ukrainian Teaching Committee of the Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly of Canada produced a bulletin, entitled New Word.
Canadian Baháʼí Mary McCulloch was of Ukrainian descent. After becoming a Baháʼí in 1951 and being elected to the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan she was the first person to relocate to promulgate the religion, (pioneer)) to Anticosti Island in 1956 becoming thereby a Knight of Baháʼu'lláh. In later years she lived in Baker Lake with her family and promoted translation of Baháʼí literature into Inuktitut. She also assisted with translations into Ukrainian. In the 1990s she attended the Observances of the Centenary of the Ascension of Baháʼu'lláh and the Baháʼí World Congress and went on pilgrimage, and died in 1995.
In 1973 an intercultural banquet was held in Minnesota hosted by Baha’is included Ukrainian food. There were encounters with diaspora Ukrainians in Paraguay by the later 1970s.
History of the Bahá’í Faith in Ukraine (1900s - 2000)
Early Traces and Pre-Soviet Era (1900s–1939) The Bahá’í Faith's earliest known connection to Ukraine dates to the 1920s, when Mr. Abul Qasim Kiani, a student in St. Petersburg, moved to the Donbas region, becoming the first known Bahá’í in that area. The first Ukrainian Bahá’í is considered to be Vasyl Doroshenko, who was taught the Faith by Lidia Zamenhof in 1938 while living in what was then eastern Poland. Doroshenko began translating Bahá’í literature into Ukrainian, but contact was lost after the Soviet invasion during World War II.
The Soviet Era: Suppression and Isolation (1940s–1980s) During the Soviet period, religious activity was heavily suppressed. Ukraine was named by Shoghi Effendi as a “virgin territory” to be opened during the Ten-Year Crusade (1953–1963), but no pioneers succeeded in establishing a community. There are scattered reports of Bahá’ís living or studying in Ukraine, such as Naim Nadji in Odessa in the late 1970s, but little is known about their activities. In the 1980s, a few foreign students, such as Jacob Opeid from Uganda, studied in Odessa and identified as Bahá’ís, but their presence was brief and often ended tragically due to the political climate.
The Dawn of Religious Freedom: Perestroika and the Fall of the Iron Curtain (Late 1980s–1991) The late 1980s brought dramatic change. The Universal House of Justice, in a 1983 message, challenged European Bahá’í youth to pioneer to and serve in Eastern Europe. The subsequent period of Glasnost and Perestroika, the Chernobyl disaster (1986), and the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) created new opportunities for religious activity.
In February 1990, Dmitry Krukov became the first Bahá’í of the new generation in Ukraine. The first pioneers, Jinus and Iradj Victory, arrived in Kiev in May 1990, followed by Riaz Rafat (June 1990) and Shamsi Sedaghat (Odessa, August 1990). The first Local Spiritual Assembly in Ukraine was formed in Kiev on 6 August 1990.
The First Bahá’í Activities in Kiev (1990–1991): Four Centres of Community Life The re-emergence of the Bahá’í Faith in Kiev was marked by remarkable dynamism and hospitality. The growth of the Faith in the city was centred around four main “centres” of Bahá’í activity:
The Home of Marina and Viktor Pavlov: A central gathering place for firesides, deepenings, and community events, and a hub for translation and distribution of literature. The Home of Elenora (Lora) Zyma and Family: Known for youth gatherings and hospitality, their apartment became a hub for both spiritual and social life. The Home of Jinus and Iradj Victory: Regular firesides, deepenings, and administrative gatherings took place here. The Student Dormitory of Riaz Rafat: Especially for university students, Riaz's dormitory room hosted study sessions and informal gatherings.
By January 1991, the number of Bahá’ís in Kiev had reached 55, with many youth and students among the new believers.
Key Events (1990-2000)
1990: The first Bahá’í school in the USSR was held outside Moscow. The first All-Bahá’í Conference of the USSR took place in December in Moscow, attended by over 1,000 Bahá’ís. 1991: The first National Spiritual Assembly of the USSR was elected in Moscow, attended by Hand of the Cause of God, Mr. Furútan. 1991: Official registration of the Bahá’í Community of Kiev. 1992: Formation of the first Regional Spiritual Assembly of Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine in Kiev, attended by Hand of the Cause of God, Dr. A. Varga. 1993–1995: Annual conventions and elections of Regional Assemblies, with increasing numbers of Local Spiritual Assemblies and believers. 1996: Election of the first National Spiritual Assembly of Ukraine. 1999: Official registration of the National Spiritual Assembly of Ukraine.
By the late 1990s, the Bahá’í community in Ukraine had grown significantly, with active communities in major cities such as Kiev, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Chernovtsy, Kharkov, and others.
The Role of International Teaching Teams and Pioneers The rapid growth of the Faith in Ukraine was greatly aided by the sacrificial efforts of travel teachers and teaching teams from abroad. Notable groups included:
Peace Ambassadors: A tour of 62 people from the US, New Zealand, Australia, and Germany in 1989, marking the first group of foreigners to visit the Soviet Union for Bahá’í teaching. Day-Star: A group of musicians and performers from 16 countries, visiting Ukraine annually and attracting many to the Faith. Marion Jack: A team of young teachers from California, conducting multiple trips and opening dozens of localities to the Faith. El Viento Canta: A South American music group that performed in Odessa and Kiev in 1990, inspiring the first local declarations. Red Grammer: An American singer whose concerts in 1990 attracted many to the Faith.
Early Pioneers Early pioneers to Ukraine were Jinus and Iradj Victory, Riaz Rafat, Shamsi Sedaghat, Nazila Dabestani, Frank Johansen, Aram Jahanpour, Sandra Sparrow, Esther and Bill De-Tally, Roger Coe, Joanne Evans Henlen, Vafa Moshtagh, Irina and Alecia Itkinova and many others. Their efforts, often under challenging conditions, were instrumental in the formation of new communities and the development of Bahá’í institutions.