Religious Assimilation: Ban on Worship in the Native Language

As part of religious assimilation, aggressors may categorically prohibit the use of the indigenous people's language in religious rites, sacred texts, and spiritual education. Displacing the local language from the sacred sphere cements its status as second-rate, severs the spiritual bond between generations, and accelerates the linguistic absorption of the colonized society.

ID: T0116.003
Sub-technique of:  T0116
Tactic: Persistence
People: Ukrainians
Version: 1.0
Created: 21 April 2026
Last Modified: 21 April 2026

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
C0008 Annexation of the Kyiv Metropolis by the Moscow Patriarchate (1685–1690)

Following the establishment of control over the metropolitanate came a gradual ban on the use of the Kyivan recension of Church Slavonic and of Ukrainian pronunciation in liturgy and books, which laid the foundation for the complete language bans of the 18th century[1].

S0011 Moscow Patriarchate

Following the establishment of control over the metropolitanate came a gradual ban on the use of the Kyivan recension of Church Slavonic and of Ukrainian pronunciation in liturgy and books, which laid the foundation for the complete language bans of the 18th century[1].

S0011 Moscow Patriarchate

Displacement of the local population's language from the sacred sphere: "A ban on the use of the Ukrainian language in church services"[2].

G0009 Russian Empire

Displacement of the local population's language from the sacred sphere: "A ban on the use of the Ukrainian language in church services"[2].

C0044 Russification of Education and Religion (1769–1786)

Displacement of the local population's language from the sacred sphere: "A ban on the use of the Ukrainian language in church services"[2].

G0008 Tsardom of Muscovy

Following the establishment of control over the metropolitanate came a gradual ban on the use of the Kyivan recension of Church Slavonic and of Ukrainian pronunciation in liturgy and books, which laid the foundation for the complete language bans of the 18th century[1].

References