Ruha [руга]. In the Ukrainian Orthodox church and Russian Orthodox church the term designated for material assistance given, primarily by the state, for the support of the clergy and the maintenance of churches and monasteries which lacked their own landholdings or other sources of revenue. Ruzhna tserkva (ruha-supported church) was a term often used in Kyiv in the 18th century. In villages the ruha was provided in kind by the peasant parishioners.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]