2020 №2 (67) Article 4

Geraskin Yu. V., Klenyaeva I. E.

The Peculiarities of Soviet Confessional Politics in the Mid-1960s in the Ryazan Region P.36-46.

UDC 94(470.313)«196»:322

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2020.67.2.004

The article investigates Soviet confessional politics in the mid-1960s after N. S. Khrushchevʼs resignation. The authors illustrate their ideas using materials related to the Ryazan region. The aim of the article is to analyze changes in the sphere of church-state relations and to single out some characteristic features.

The investigated historical period symbolized a transition from religious persecution to a milder attitude towards religious organizations. The article treats some novels issued by the Soviet law system and regarding cults and confession politics. Unregistered Christian, Muslim, Baptist and Old-Believer communities were the Ryazan Ombudsmanʼs primary concern. Evangelical Christian Baptists were legally persecuted and were strictly forbidden to rent church buildings and prayer rooms and therefore could not get registered. The authorities were troubled by the growing wealth of the Russian Orthodox Church. The article focuses on some episodes associated with Christian resistance to anti-religious campaigns launched by the Soviet authorities and with religious representativesʼ attempts to defend the right of believers to freedom of religion. The authors of the article provide facts that highlight strenuous relations between the Soviet authorities and religious organizations. Stereotypes of the past were difficult to discard and overcome and the normalization of church-state relations was a long process. The article can be used in Russian history courses, in Russian Orthodox Church history courses and in religious studies courses.

 

confession; community; parish; religion; priest; church; Ombudsman

 

References

SOURCES AND ABBREVIATIONS

 

  1. GARO (State Archive of the Ryazan Region) — Gosudarstvennyj arhiv Rjazanskoj oblasti [State Archive of the Ryazan Region]. F. R-5629, Op. 1. (In Russian).
  2. Dokumenty russkoj istorii [Russian Historical Documents]. 1997, no. 4 (29). (In Russian).
  3. ZhMP (Journal of the Moscow Patriarchy) — Zhurnal Moskovskogo Patriarhii (Journal of the Moscow Patriarchy). 1969, no. 11. (In Russian).
  4. Kuroedov V. A. (ed.). Zakonodatelʼstvo o religioznyh kulʼtah [Laws Concerning Religious Cults]. Moscow, Legal Literature Publ., 1971, 335 p. (In Russian).

 

 

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