Reforming sacred institutions: the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Roman Catholic Church compared

The presented article is devoted to the religious standing of Poles living in Żytomierz in the Soviet Union times. The author discusses the legal status of Roman Catholic parishes in Żytomierz and its nearest neighbourhood after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and later on. Profiles of Żytomierz Catholic priests have been introducted who acted until the Soviet Union collapse in 1991. Furthermore, the author attempts to show the relations that the Żytomierz Poles held with Poland and her structures of the Roman Catholic Church during the USSR era.

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Tajikistan

Christianity in South and Central Asia ◽

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474439824.003.0006 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 65-69

Author(s):

Barakatullo Ashurov

Keyword(s):

Soviet Union ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Russian Language ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Small Scale ◽

State Control ◽

Protestant Churches ◽

The Soviet Union ◽

Central Asian ◽

Missionary Movement

Christianity in modern Tajikistan is closely connected to the missionary movement of the Church of the East in the Central Asian landmass. The historical patterns of the ROC aimed to cover only European and Russian nationals with Russian language only. This has led to Christianity being dubbed a ‘Russian religion’. The Roman Catholic Church was in Central Asia since the thirteenth century. The first wave of Protestants came through the Mennonites (Brethren), along with Evangelicals and Baptists (who both eventually merged in 1941 into the Evangelical Baptists), and the second wave came through various Protestant mission organizations after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Protestant churches in the country comprise both local converts from Islam and those of Russian Orthodox background. Although non-Tajik Christians are culturally acceptable, local converts are regarded as traitors. Many such restrictions apply equally to all religions. State restraint toward religious minorities are due to inherited Soviet tradition and fear of the extremist ideology that was a cause of the recent civil war. Current persecution in the country is largely a matter of social discrimination rather than state control. Nonetheless, the existing communities, particularly those with valid registrations, are thriving, albeit on a small scale.

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Struggles for the Character of the Roman Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia, 1948-1989

Eurostudia ◽

10.7202/1033882ar ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 51-73

Author(s):

Miroslav Tížik

Keyword(s):

Political Parties ◽

Organizational Structure ◽

Communist Party ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Communist Regime ◽

State Socialism ◽

Power Struggles ◽

The Church

After the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia came to power in 1948, power struggles followed between political parties and long-running internal struggles within the country’s Roman Catholic Church over the church’s character and organizational structure. These struggles related not only to purely theological issues, but also to the ideals of communism (and, later, socialism), the Communist Party and its program. The internal plurality within the church throughout the whole period of the people’s democracy and state socialism in Czechoslovakia calls into question the dualistic image of struggles between the church and the Communist Party, and it complicates the image of the church as a victim of the Communist regime. In particular, the crucial periods from 1948 to 1952 and from 1968 to 1969 suggest that, throughout much of the communist period there persisted tensions between the higher and lower clergy and there were diverging views on how the church should function; these tensions took on a diversity of shapes and varied in intensity.

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Religion under Communism

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199602056.013.034 ◽

2013 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Richard Madsen

Keyword(s):

Soviet Union ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Organizational Structures ◽

Religious Practice ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Russian Orthodox Church ◽

The Soviet Union ◽

Long Run ◽

Almost All ◽

Communist Countries

Lenin began and Stalin completed the organizational structures and the repertoire of strategies and tactics that would be used as a model by almost all subsequent communist movements for suppressing religion. This model was primarily constructed to overcome the challenges posed to the revolution by a powerful Russian Orthodox Church. As such it did not fit the religious circumstances of other communist countries. It was poorly adapted to the decentralized patterns of religious practice in Asia, and it was unable to eliminate resistance from the Roman Catholic Church in Eastern Europe, especially when that church was connected with nationalism. Even though the Stalinist model initially seemed successful in eliminating political opposition from religion in the Soviet Union, it was in the long run a failure on its own terms.

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British-Maltese Relations in Light of the Bilateral Military Agreement 1971

International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education ◽

10.9756/int-jecse/v13i2.211109 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 688-700

Author(s):

Dr. Maitham Abdul Kuder Jabbar

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Soviet Union ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Social Role ◽

The United States ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Military Bases ◽

The North ◽

The Soviet Union ◽

Strategic Goals

Since the beginning of the sixteenth century, the island of Malta has represented one of the most important countries and islands allied to Britain in the Mediterranean basin, after it extended its influence to it, and made it one of the strategic military bases in its expansionist policy and for many centuries, and after World War II and the emergence of the so-called socialist and capitalist camps or It is also expressed in the eastern camp represented by the Warsaw Pact led by the Soviet Union, and the western camp represented by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization led by the United States of America and its ally Britain, and with the increase in the importance of the Middle East region, and the flow of oil in it in commercial quantities, the importance of the island of Malta for Britain has increased, so it sought with all its diplomatic efforts To conclude a set of military agreements, alliances and treaties, and as a result of the importance of these agreements in directing the compass of Britain’s foreign policy, we had the desire to discuss the topic (British-Maltese relations in light of the bilateral military agreement 1971). The subject of the research was divided into an introduction and two sections. In the introduction, we discussed briefly the British control of the important sea lanes, which represented one of its strategic goals, and how it imposed its control over those lanes for many centuries. As for the first topic, it was due to the research necessity of several axes. The first axis was discussed The most important reasons that prompted the Maltese government to sign the bilateral military agreement with Britain, and one of the most prominent of those reasons was the political and social role of the Roman Catholic Church, and then economic factors and their impact on the signing of the agreement, and with regard to the second axis, it was about the signing of the bilateral military agreement in July 1971. The third axis discussed the terms of the agreement, which were in its entirety in the interest of the Maltese government, and the second topic talked about the position of the NATO countries on that agreement, especially the British government and the American administration.

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THE STRUGGLE OF THE SOVIET AUTHORITY AGAINST THE «REMNANTS OF UNIAT» IN THE UKRAINIAN SSR AT THE BREAK OF THE 1970s – 1980s

Skhid ◽

10.21847/1728-9343.2021.2(2).239428 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 31-36

Author(s):

ROMAN PUYDA

Keyword(s):

Soviet Union ◽

Communist Party ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Russian Orthodox Church ◽

Religious Influence ◽

Religious Ideology ◽

The Soviet Union ◽

Mode Of Life ◽

Western Ukraine ◽

The Media

The key methods of the Ukrainian SSR party authorities to counter the attempts of reviving the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the western Ukrainian regions at the break of the 80s-90s of the XX century were considered. It was noted that in the late 1970s in this region, particularly in Galicia, Greek-Catholic believers and the clergy measurably intensified their activity, which was evident mainly in houses of worship attendance, traditional rites observance, letters issued to the Council for Religious Affairs of the Soviet Union Ministers with the requirement to register religious communities, clandestine ordination of the clergy, etc. It was stated that in order to counter the religious influence intensification of the Russian Orthodox Church on the population, as well as to prevent negative anti-social manifestations of «remnants of Uniat», local Communist Party committees and Soviet authorities carried out a number of propaganda and mass political events to expose anti-Soviet religious ideology, in particular, «the reactionary role of the Uniat Church in the history of the Ukrainian people». It was noted that the Communist Party of Ukraine took concrete measures to step up anti-religious propaganda in Western Ukrainian regions, as well as to promote the advantages of the Soviet mode of life. It was alleged that the activities of Greek Ca¬tholic believers were discussed at the Council for Religious Affairs of the Soviet Union Ministers sessions of the Ukrainian SSR in the regions of Western Ukraine, party rallies at different levels, meetings of the ideological activists of the regions, seminars of cultural and educational wor¬kers, district and regional atheist conferences. It was noted that the Communist Party of Ukraine paid considerable attention to the media, which should have covered the historical aspects of the «anti-popular backbone of Uniat Church».

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The Roman Catholic Church in Poland and Civil Society:Contradiction or Complementarity?

Religious Studies and Theology ◽

10.1558/rsth.v27i1.21 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 21-42

Author(s):

Janusz Mariański

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Roman Catholic Church

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Popes, Saints, Beato Bones and other Images at War

Postscripts The Journal of Sacred Texts and Contemporary Worlds ◽

10.1558/post.v5i3.337 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 337-364

Author(s):

Kristin Norget

Keyword(s):

San Francisco ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Moral Authority ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Critical Examination ◽

Peripheral Populations ◽

New Strategy ◽

Catholic History ◽

Local Cultures

This article explores new political practices of the Roman Catholic Church by means of a close critical examination of the beatification of the Martyrs of Cajonos, two indigenous men from the Mexican village of San Francisco Cajonos, Oaxaca, in 2002. The Church’s new strategy to promote an upsurge in canonizations and beatifications forms part of a “war of images,” in Serge Gruzinski’s terms, deployed to maintain apparently peripheral populations within the Church’s central paternalistic fold of social and moral authority and influence, while at the same time as it must be seen to remain open to local cultures and realities. In Oaxaca and elsewhere, this ecclesiastical technique of “emplacement” may be understood as an attempt to engage indigenous-popular religious sensibilities and devotion to sacred images while at the same time implicitly trying to contain them, weaving their distinct local historical threads seamlessly into the fabric of a global Catholic history.

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Vanguard of the Revolution

10.23943/princeton/9780691196428.001.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

A. James McAdams

Keyword(s):

Soviet Union ◽

Communist Party ◽

Political Institutions ◽

North Korea ◽

Karl Marx ◽

Modern World ◽

The Soviet Union ◽

History Of ◽

The Revolution

This book is a sweeping history of one of the most significant political institutions of the modern world. The communist party was a revolutionary idea long before its supporters came to power. The book argues that the rise and fall of communism can be understood only by taking into account the origins and evolution of this compelling idea. It shows how the leaders of parties in countries as diverse as the Soviet Union, China, Germany, Yugoslavia, Cuba, and North Korea adapted the original ideas of revolutionaries like Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin to profoundly different social and cultural settings. The book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand world communism and the captivating idea that gave it life.

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DIALOG Z HUMANIZMEM RENESANSOWYM W DZIEŁACH PIOTRA SKARGI / PIOTR SKARGA’S DIALOGUE WITH RENAISSANCE HUMANISM

Ruch Literacki ◽

10.2478/v10273-012-0078-z ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 54 (4-5) ◽

pp. 405-424

Author(s):

Alina Nowicka -Jeżowa

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Ignatian Spirituality ◽

Clear Cut ◽

Renaissance Humanism ◽

Cultural Conditions ◽

Political Views ◽

The City ◽

The Church

Summary The article tries to outline the position of Piotr Skarga in the Jesuit debates about the legacy of humanist Renaissance. The author argues that Skarga was fully committed to the adaptation of humanist and even medieval ideas into the revitalized post-Tridentine Catholicism. Skarga’s aim was to reformulate the humanist worldview, its idea of man, system of values and political views so that they would fit the doctrine of the Roman Catholic church. In effect, though, it meant supplanting the pluralist and open humanist culture by a construct as solidly Catholic as possible. He sifted through, verified, and re-interpreted the humanist material: as a result the humanist myth of the City of the Sun was eclipsed by reminders of the transience of all earthly goods and pursuits; elements of the Greek and Roman tradition were reconnected with the authoritative Biblical account of world history; and man was reinscribed into the theocentric perspective. Skarga brought back the dogmas of the original sin and sanctifying grace, reiterated the importance of asceticism and self-discipline, redefined the ideas of human dignity and freedom, and, in consequence, came up with a clear-cut, integrist view of the meaning and goal of the good life as well as the proper mission of the citizen and the nation. The polemical edge of Piotr Skarga’s cultural project was aimed both at Protestantism and the Erasmian tendency within the Catholic church. While strongly coloured by the Ignatian spirituality with its insistence on rigorous discipline, a sense of responsibility for the lives of other people and the culture of the community, and a commitment to the heroic ideal of a miles Christi, taking headon the challenges of the flesh, the world, Satan, and the enemies of the patria and the Church, it also went a long way to adapt the Jesuit model to Poland’s socio-cultural conditions and the mentality of its inhabitants.

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