Among the many liberal myths about the Soviet state, one is in special demand, especially against the background of the general clericalization of society.
This is a myth about Soviet power and religion. There are a great many options, but the main theses are as follows:
1) the Bolsheviks destroyed the clergy "physically";
2) the Bolsheviks destroyed churches;
3) the Bolsheviks banned religion in all forms and persecuted its adherents;
4) and finally, the Bolsheviks undermined the spiritual foundation of the state.
The followers of this myth, apparently, are not particularly strong in history. The Provisional Government delivered the first blow to the "spiritual bonds" by adopting the Decree on the Abolition of Religious and National Restrictions on March 20, 1917, and then, on July 14, 1917, the "Decree on Freedom of Conscience." A striking example of the high spirituality of "Russia we have lost" was the fact that after the abolition of compulsory services in the Russian army on the German front, from 6 to 15 percent of the personnel began to voluntarily attend services! Moreover, Orthodoxy was previously the official religion, and the entire Russian-speaking population of Russia was baptized, that is, by definition, believers. In the future, there even took place the seizure of land plots, buildings and even monasteries from the ROC. And mind you, all this happened under a provisional government, the Bolsheviks had not yet come to power. However,these innovations did not particularly affect the position of the church, and therefore the clergy sang the praises of the bourgeois Provisional Government.
After the Great October Socialist Revolution, the church was finally separated from the state and the school. What does this mean? And the fact that the clergy cease to be a privileged class, exempt from taxes and receiving half of their income from the treasury. Along the way, the church lost a profitable business, because in "God-fearing and spiritual" Russia, all religious rituals were by no means voluntary and not free. She also could not raise future “consumers” of church services in educational institutions.
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Already on the second day after the revolution, at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the "Decree on Land" was adopted. According to this decree, landlords, monastic and church lands were transferred into public ownership, along with all buildings and implements.
Of course, the ROC was not happy with this situation. On October 28, at the Local Council held in Moscow, the restoration of the Patriarchate in the ROC was announced. In practice, this meant the proclamation of the administrative independence of the ROC from the state. It was also decided to excommunicate all those who encroached on its "sacred property" from the church.
In the resolution “On the legal status of the Orthodox Church,” adopted on November 18, 1917 at the Local Council, not only requirements were put forward to preserve all the privileges of the ROC, but even to expand them.
At the same time, the ROC began anti-Soviet activities. Suffice it to say that only the Local Council and Patriarch Tikhon in 1917-1918. 16 anti-Soviet messages were published!
On December 18 and 19, 1917, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR issued decrees "On civil marriage, children and the introduction of books of acts of civil status" and "On divorce", which removed the church from participation in civic activities and, accordingly, from the source of income.
The Decree "On the separation of church from state and school from church" adopted on January 23, 1918 finally put an end to the influence of the church in society.
From the first days the church openly opposed the Soviet regime. The clergy greeted the beginning of the civil war with enthusiasm, taking the side of the interventionists of the White Guards, blessing them to fight. It would be naive to believe that they were guided by some highly spiritual goals. Their interest in overthrowing Soviet power was quite material - the return of the lost position, influence, property, land and, of course, income. The participation of the church in the struggle against Bolshevism was not limited to appeals alone. Suffice it to recall the White Guard religious military units formed in Siberia, such as the Regiment of Jesus, the Regiment of the Mother of God, the Regiment of Elijah the Prophet and others. Under Tsaritsyn, the "Regiment of Christ the Savior", formed exclusively from clergymen, took part in hostilities. Rector of the Rostov Cathedral Verkhovsky,Priest Kuznetsov from Ust-Pristan and many others led the most real gangs, consisting of unbroken kulaks. Monasteries often served as a refuge for various kinds of White Guards and bandits. The leader of the White Guard rebellion in Murom, Colonel Sakharov, took refuge in the Spassky Monastery. The priests betrayed those who sympathized with the Soviet regime to the invaders, often violating the secret of confession, which was a grave sin. But apparently the questions of faith and morality of the priests were never particularly embarrassed. There are many facts of anti-Soviet activities of the church in the Civil War. The priests betrayed those who sympathized with the Soviet regime to the invaders, often violating the secret of confession, which was a grave sin. But apparently the questions of faith and morality of the priests were never particularly embarrassed. There are many facts of anti-Soviet activities of the church in the Civil War. The priests betrayed those who sympathized with the Soviet regime to the invaders, often violating the secret of confession, which was a grave sin. But apparently the questions of faith and morality of the priests were never particularly embarrassed. There are many facts of anti-Soviet activities of the church in the Civil War.
At the same time, the Soviet government was very liberal in its attitude to the clergy. The Trans-Baikal Bishop Yefim, arrested for anti-Soviet activities and taken to Petrograd, was immediately released there after he promised not to engage in anti-Soviet activities in the future. Released on parole, which he immediately violated. Bishop Nikandr of Moscow and a number of Moscow priests arrested for counter-revolutionary activities were released in the spring of 1918. After a short arrest, Patriarch Tikhon was also released, who called on all Orthodox people to fight the Soviet regime.
An illustrative example is the robbery of the Patriarch's sacristy in Moscow in January 1918. Then emeralds, sapphires, rare diamonds, the Gospel of 1648 in a gold setting with diamonds, the Gospel of the XII century and many other values were stolen. The total cost of the stolen was 30 million rubles. Bishop Nikandr of Moscow, together with other Moscow priests, began to spread rumors that the Bolsheviks and Soviet power were guilty of the abduction. For which they were arrested. After the criminals were found, they of course turned out to be ordinary criminals, everything stolen was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. At the request of the church, Nikandr and his accomplices were released.
How did the church respond to this attitude of the Soviet government towards it? When, in the early twenties, famine broke out in a country ravaged by a civil war, the Soviet government turned to the ROC with a request to loan the state items made of gold, silver and precious stones, the withdrawal of which could not significantly affect the interests of the cult itself. Jewelry was needed to buy food abroad. Patriarch Tikhon, who had previously been arrested for anti-Soviet activities, urged not to give anything to the "atheists", calling such a request sacrilege. But we have the power of the people and the interests of the people above all else.
Patriarch Tikhon was arrested and convicted, and the jewelry was now confiscated on a compulsory basis. On June 16, 1923, the convicted Patriarch Tikhon submitted the following application.
Statement text:
“In addressing this application to the Supreme Court of the RSFSR, I consider it necessary, due to the duty of my pastoral conscience, to declare the following:
Having been brought up in a monarchist society and being under the influence of anti-Soviet people until my arrest, I was really hostile to the Soviet regime, and hostility from a passive state at times passed to active actions. Such as: an appeal concerning the Brest Peace in 1918, anathematization of the authorities in the same year, and finally an appeal against the decree on the confiscation of church valuables in 1922. All my anti-Soviet actions, with a few inaccuracies, are set out in the indictment of the Supreme Court. Recognizing the correctness of the Court's decision to prosecute me under the articles of the criminal code specified in the indictment for anti-Soviet activities, I repent of these misdeeds against the state system and ask the Supreme Court to change my preventive measure, that is, to release me from custody.
At the same time, I declare to the Supreme Court that from now on I am not an enemy of Soviet power. I finally and decisively dissociate myself from both foreign and domestic monarchist-whiteguard counter-revolution."
- Patriarch Tikhon, June 16, 1923
On June 25, 1923, the Supreme Court released him.
In the Soviet state, not a single priest was shot, arrested or convicted for being a priest. There was no such article. The Soviet government never persecuted people related to the church. The Soviet government fought mercilessly only with its enemies and no matter what they were dressed in - a priest's cassock, military uniform or civilian clothes. The clergy enjoyed the rights of ordinary citizens and were not subjected to any persecution by the authorities. Modern denunciators of Soviet power take it as an axiom the fact that any clergyman is innocent by definition, and Soviet power is criminal by definition.
Deprived of privileges and guaranteed income, the church acquired the need to support itself and pay taxes, like any other economic entity. The workers 'and peasants' authorities were not needed. As a result, if the church had few parishioners and the income did not cover the expenses, the activity was curtailed and the parish was closed. The people, as they say, voted for the parish with a penny of labor. Churches were often closed even after the arrest of a clergyman who was engaged in anti-Soviet activities. There were frequent cases when the local population itself demanded the closure of churches and the transfer of their buildings to schools, clubs, etc.
And the fact that hundreds of churches were closed does not at all speak in favor of religion as the basis of the state. The abandoned church was eventually taken over by local authorities. It must be said that the Soviet government did not have any specific policy in relation to such buildings, and it certainly did not have an intention to destroy churches. The local governing body always decided what to do with the abandoned church. It happened that the church was dismantled into bricks or simply demolished if it interfered with, say, construction. But these were rather isolated cases. The building was used most often. Converted into a club, warehouse, workshops, etc.
The demolition of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 1931 is presented as the apotheosis of the "destructive" policy of the Soviet government. However, none of the accusers mentions that before that, for almost five years, the temple was abandoned. They also do not say that in the occupied territory, the Nazis destroyed, according to various estimates, from a thousand to one and a half thousand churches.
Religion in the Soviet state was not prohibited. Only the activities of certain religious sects were banned, which, by the way, are still not in honor of the official church. The assertion that there was atheism in Soviet Russia is not an argument. Yes, atheism was, just as it is now. Was atheism the official state ideology? No, I was not. And what kind of state atheistic ideology can we talk about if the state guaranteed freedom of religion (conscience)?
All actions of the Soviet government in relation to the church were carried out in accordance with the communist theory and the interests of the people.
As a "terrible" argument in favor of the alleged persecution of believers, they cite the fact that membership in the Communist Party was available only to atheists. Yes this is true. But the Communist Party is a public organization, membership in which was voluntary. And like any party, it is free to put forward any demands it deems necessary to its members.
On September 4, 1943, a meeting of the leadership of the USSR, headed by J. V. Stalin, with the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church took place. The ROC was allowed to publish its own magazine, open churches and purchase transport from the state for the patriarchate. The issues of religious practice related to the legalization of church education, streamlining the taxation of clergymen, convening Councils of Bishops and the election of a patriarch were also settled. At the same time, the church made its first contribution to the defense fund, although it had been operating since the summer of 1941. In September 1946, the Leningrad Theological Academy was founded, in which, by the way, the current chief chief Gundyaev began his "career". Agree that this somehow does not fit with the myths about "oppression and destruction of the church by the communists."
The Soviet government actively fought religion as a harmful relic, but the methods of this struggle were never repressive. The elimination of illiteracy, unemployment, the growth of the people's well-being, the elimination of the oppressor class, confidence in the future, educational work and - these are the factors that helped the people turn away from the church.
Here is what Lenin said about the fight against religion:
“One must be extremely careful in combating religious prejudices; much harm is done by those who insult religious feelings in this struggle. We must fight through propaganda, through education. By introducing edge into the struggle, we can embitter the masses; such a struggle strengthens the division of the masses according to the principle of religion, but our strength is in unity. The deepest source of religious prejudice is poverty and darkness; it is this evil that we must fight”.
- IN AND. Lenin, PSS, Volume 38, Page 118.
There are a great many facts refuting the liberal myth of the oppression / destruction of the church by the Bolsheviks. But even if there is no desire to search, then simple logic will come to the rescue. If, according to the accusers, the Bolsheviks were engaged only in shooting priests and demolishing churches, and imprisoning the faithful without exception, then where are so many old churches in Russian cities? And the very fact of the existence of clergy does not bother you? Or were they brought to us in the form of humanitarian aid in the dashing 90s?
Anti-Soviet propaganda uses various methods, from simple manipulation of facts to outright lies. There is only one task - to discredit the world's first Socialist state, distort the truth and everything in order to justify their crimes against the people. The end always justifies the means for them.
By the way
Speaking about the ROC, it must be remembered that:
Systematically hundreds of years have been depriving Russians of their true history. They say that the real history of the Russians appeared only after the Baptism and the forced Christianization of Russia. In reality, it was not like that. The progressive development of our side and our ancestors (Rus, Rus) began much earlier, at least 2600-2500 years BC, that is, at least 4.5 thousand years before the present day.
1. Orthodoxy is not identical with Christianity. The term "Orthodoxy" is mistakenly associated only with the Russian Orthodox Church and the Christian religion. Orthodoxy existed long before the baptism of Rus. The Slavs and Russians were Orthodox for many hundreds of years before their conversion to the Judeo-Christian faith. Since ancient times, our ancestors were called Orthodox, for they glorified the Rule.
2. In fact, true Orthodoxy is not a religious cult. It was a teaching about how the surrounding world works and how to properly interact with it. This was not “prejudice,” as some rituals and spiritual teachings were called during the Soviet era, when the church was truly separated from the state. This was not a backward and primitive cult of "idolaters", as the modern ROC is trying to convince us. Orthodoxy in Russia is a real reliable knowledge about the world around us.
3. Did faithful holy fathers participate in seven councils of the Christian church, and not Orthodox? The substitution of concepts took place gradually, and at the initiative of the fathers of the Judeo-Christian Church.
4. The Church in Russia began to be referred to as the "Russian Orthodox Church" (ROC) only in 1943, after the corresponding decree of Stalin. Prior to that, the Church was called - the Greek Catholic Orthodox (Orthodox) Church. Until now, abroad, the Russian Church is called not the Orthodox Church, but the Russian Orthodox Church.
