The relationship of the church with the Soviet and Post-soviet state: the experience of documentary analysis

Author(s):  V.P. Pashin, Kursk State University, Kursk, Russia, pashinvp@mail.ru

Issue:  Volume 42, №24

Rubric:  Actual Problems of Legal Regulation

Annotation:  The author of this article, based on an analysis of documentary sources, of various origins and nature, makes an attempt to understand the causes of the sharp contradictions between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet state. Although initially a theoretical negative attitude of the founders of Marxism to religion in general, the facts and actions of the church hierarchy are identified and analyzed, which constantly provoked the Soviet regime on the use of repressive measures towards them. Historical memory makes (?) the Russian Orthodox Church today to cooperate in the first place, with public institutions and, secondly, with the society. In modern conditions it is aggressively seeking its own niche in the hierarchical system of the state. But traditionalism and unwillingness to engage in discussions with state institutions for acute socio-economic and ethical issues do not allow it to become the informal leader of modern society. The article criticized the established myths about Russian human piety. Often served for the faith is not the state of the human soul, and its exterior form

Keywords:  church, religion, Patriarch Tikhon, Bolshevism, Soviet power

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