The Soviet government committed a lot of evil and blasphemy against the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox faith. The militant atheism of the councils desecrated shrines, exterminated priests, destroyed churches, and oppressed the faith.
The "excesses on the ground" of the Soviet regime caused colossal damage to both the religious tradition and the historical and cultural heritage of Russia. But on the other hand, the loathsome actions of the Bolsheviks were able to reveal a whole series of forgeries and outright falsifications of the Russian Church. The hardest blow of atheists from the Soviet regime on Orthodox shrines was inflicted during the civil war.
On February 19, 1919, one hundred years ago, an action began on the organized opening and seizure of the relics of the saints. With varying success, this campaign was held for 10 years and the Bolsheviks desecrated about a hundred cancer with relics. Of course, the purpose of the action was not mockery of Orthodox shrines, but anti-religious propaganda and an attempt to finally undermine confidence in the priests, an attempt to present them as liars and falsifiers. The results of the program of "liquidation of relics on an all-Russian scale" turned out to be extremely ambiguous and even shocking.
Opening of the relics with. G. Kazansky 1919
Among the people, the relics of Russian saints were equated in importance with miraculous icons. The remains of the saints and could heal and, probably, forgive sins, and indeed, they are a Christian miracle, since "they were incorruptible." Unfortunately, the examination and dissection of the holy relics revealed an unpleasant truth.
First, it turned out that local clergy often did not take proper care of shrines. A rare exception were the relics of saints of all-Russian scale, for example, Alexander Nevsky, Seraphim of Sarov.
Removal of the crayfish with the relics of A. Nevsky 1922
Secondly, according to popular concepts, most of the relics turned out to be fake, for they were very perishable. But the priests in the churches told the parishioners that the saints were "incorruptible." This was a serious blow to the religious psyche of the common people. In addition, it turned out that the priests of the tsarist era themselves more than once disturbed the peace of the saints. They in every possible way artificially contributed to the preservation of the "incorruptibility" of the relics.
Promotional video:
But that was not so bad. In a number of cases, it turned out that the precious reliquaries with the relics of saints and relics were not. An autopsy of the reliquary with the relics of Saint Artemy Verkolsky revealed the following:
Autopsy of the crayfish with the relics of Artemy Verkolsky.
During the autopsy of the shrine of St. Macarius, it was discovered:
Two questions arise. Who guessed to shove all this rubbish into sacred crayfish and why? Where are the relics and were they really there? Most likely, we will never know the answer. And it is also very interesting, before the desecration, these relics had miraculous functions, according to the parishioners. Has anyone been cured by kissing bay leaf cancer?
Photo of the contents of one shrine with relics. Probably Cancer Versanufia.
In the course of the action, many unpleasant incidents related to the relics were revealed. Even the information about the state of the relics of the saints of the All-Russian level at the moment is contradictory. Some sources claim that everything was in order with the relics of the most significant saints of the Russian land, other sources claim the opposite. For example, in the shrine of the holy blessed prince Alexander Nevsky in Petrograd, it was found:
Although, according to official statements, everything was in order with A. Nevsky. A documentary video of the autopsy of S. Radonezhsky's relics from 1919-11-04 has survived, and its preservation is beyond doubt.
It is also known that in the process of the liquidation action, quite a few real relics were lost or badly damaged.
Still from documentary footage of the autopsy of S. Radonezhsky's relics. 1919
Despite the blasphemy, the program to eliminate the relics brought some benefits. So after opening the relics with various holy princes, scientists managed to remove casts from the remains and restore the appearance of the ancient princes. If, of course, princes were in the crayfish.
It turns out that the Bolsheviks, by their blasphemous actions, nevertheless caught the church of falsification and lies. This is very regrettable, for the church in the most blatant way violated the covenants that it propagated. Probably the persecution of the church by the USSR was a well-deserved punishment for the Orthodox. The simple believing people, of course, are not to blame for this. It is sad to realize that there were many spiritualized people who, in the hope of getting rid of diseases, or receiving God's blessing, traveled hundreds of kilometers in order to kiss a pile of bricks. I hope that the modern church has rethought this state of affairs and atoned for the mistakes in terms of the preservation of the holy relics, if any have remained since then. The author admits that in reality there is a phenomenon of partial preservation of the remains of holy people,and even in different religious traditions, but apparently not all holy relics are holy and equally useful.
