Abstract

After the Christianization of Kievan Rus, folk elements began to penetrate into church painting. The culture that has been formed in the people for centuries, in accordance with the regularities of the mechanism of ethno-confessional syncretism, could not but interact with the new Christian culture for Ukraine. Christianity, though sometimes using various means to counteract it, still failed to eradicate the most persistent Christian motives from the minds of its people throughout the centuries of its existence. Ukrainian tolerance and creative forces of the people contributed to the development of religious cult and art, which over time gained national features and characteristics.