The Orthodox Church and Religion in Revolutionary Russia, 1894–1924

2020 ◽  
pp. 37-59
Author(s):  
Vera Shevzov
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian People ◽  
Sacred Objects ◽  
Scientific Materialism

This chapter examines the fate of the Russian Orthodox Church—as an institution and community—during Russia’s years of revolution, from the reign of Nicholas II through the 1917 February Revolution and subsequent Bolshevik coup. It argues that Orthodoxy’s legal status as a ‘primary and predominant’ faith, and the state ascription of the ‘Russian people’ to Orthodoxy from birth under imperial rule, were in large part responsible for Orthodoxy’s institutional turmoil during these years. Further, the chapter challenges the use of the term ‘secularization’ with respect to the Bolshevik regime’s anti-religious policies. In the span of weeks, the Bolshevik regime not only homogenized Orthodoxy into the mix of ‘traditional faiths’—all pinpointed for eradication—but also relegated Orthodoxy to the position of least desired and most hazardous within that mix. Accordingly, this work argues that, from any observant believer’s perspective, Bolshevik efforts to cultivate the New Soviet Person—which included initiatives targeting the disestablishment, denigration of ‘liquidation’ of religious leaders, and the nationalization, destruction, and museumification of sacred objects, as well as widespread ‘re-education’ in ‘scientific materialism’—are better understood as a form of ‘internal’, spiritual colonization, and a qualitatively new chapter of Russia’s history.

scholarly journals SOCIO-CULTURAL INTERACTION FORMS OF CHURCH AND STATE ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 60-64
Author(s):  
Evguenia Alexandrovna Belyaeva ◽  
Elena Aleksandrovna Venidiktova ◽  
Dilbar Valievna Shamsutdinova
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Church

Purpose: the aim of the undertaken study is to consider the dynamics of the church-state relationship in the context of Russian new cultural tendencies at the turn of the century. Methodology: Thus, The methodological basis of the research was formed by philosophical analysis of the church-state relationship, historicism and comparison principles. The following tasks were being solved: defining the interaction ways between the religious organizations and the state on the modern stage of the Russian society development; pointing out the prospects of consolidation of both the сhurch and the state around the democratic civil society fostering program in XXI century; revealing the need to promote respectful attitude towards human values as an integral part of spiritual culture. Result: The authors achieved the following results within the study: A wider notions of church and state were introduced demonstrating the similarity of some of their functions: offering moral guidance for social well-being; historic doctrinal models “caesaropapism”, “papocaesarism” and “symphony(concordance) of powers” were identified and characterized alongside with their secular counterparts - separation and cooperation models of church-state relationship. In conclusion of the article the urgent need for the transition of church-state relationship from political to social and cultural spheres was justified. Applications: This research can be used for the universities, teachers, and students. Novelty/Originality: In this research, the model of Socio-Cultural Interaction Forms of Church and State on the Example of the Russian Orthodox Church is presented in a comprehensive and complete manner.

scholarly journals GEOCULTURAL APPROACH OF THE WORLDOUTLOOK RESEARCH PROGRAM: ON THE PROBLEM OF INTERACTION OF LIBERAL AND TRADITIONAL STANDARDS

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-124
Author(s):  
Sergey A. Kalinin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Research Program ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Present Stage ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church

The reсonsidering of the methodological foundations of modern theoretical jurisprudence includes both the search for new approaches and the identification of the limits and conditions for their adequacy. At the same time, the needs for studying the interaction of the value-worldoutlook nature and the spatial conditionality of the state and law, considered in the logic of an open system, correspond with the geocultural approach. This approach is based on the multi-valued category “geoculture”, that allows one to comprehend the cultural codes and meanings of the transformation of reality and space (world projects), including those that exist as ideas about ideal forms of public power and social regulation. The geocultural approach may be part of such methodological phenomena as the worldoutlook research program, world-system analysis and geomeasurement. At the present stage, the geocultural approach of the worldoutlook research program is most suitable for analyzing the conflict of geocultures, allowing to take into account the replacement of geocultural standards, the crisis of the modern capita list world economy, legitimized by liberal geoculture, and the search for new mo dels of world order, carried out in the framework of the conflict of liberal and traditional values. The importance of understanding this conflict is due to the critical attitude of liberalism towards traditional statehood, its fulfillment of the role of an instrument of “controlled chaos” and an instrument of dominance of the West. The reсonsidering of liberal geoculture is permissible on the basis of the doctrines of traditional religious faiths, among which the Russian Orthodox Church is dominant in the post-Soviet space. Liberal geoculture is a multidimensional phenomenon, which at the same time puts forward the idea of protecting human rights and freedoms, and is an instrument for implementation of an elitist policy, characterized by excessive criticality in relation to the state and government, as well as any categories reflecting collective soli darity. Moreover, human rights, which are an integral part of liberal geoculture, initially stem from the Christian idea of a man as an ontologically free human being, the image and likeness of God, whose status metaphysically extends to anyone, but only his own. Substantially there are three interdependent problems in the phenomenon of human rights, the answer to which predetermines the practice of legal regulation: who is a person (in a particular geoculture), who is recognized as the ontological subject of human rights violations, who is recognized as the relevant subject of human rights protection. The complexity of the attitude of traditional Christianity to human rights, including denial (due to historical reasons for using human rights to marginalize Christianity), understanding, and recognition, is confirmed by the historical practice of the Russian Orthodox Church, which positively interprets this phenomenon in its conceptual documents at the present stage. The foregoing makes it expedient to use the canonical positions and official documents of traditional religious faiths in lawmaking and lawenforcement practice, which are the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches for Belarus.

scholarly journals The Relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet State in Central Asia in the 1940s - Mid 1960s (Illustrated by the Example of the Tashkent Deanery)

2020 ◽  
pp. 52-56
Author(s):  
Yu.N. Tsyryapkina
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Soviet State ◽  
Property Relations ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
The Church

In this article the author examines state-church relations in Central Asia in the 1940s - mid 1960s illustrated by the example of the Tashkent Deanery during the period of the development of the Russian Orthodox Church under the patronage of the institute of state commissioners for the Russian Orthodox Church. On the basis of an analysis of unpublished archival sources, the author describes the process of reconstruction of parishes on the territory of the Tashkent and Central Asian dioceses, analyzes the economic and property relations between the state and the church, and the financial activities of the Orthodox parishes of the Tashkent deanery. The author focuses on issues related to the staff of Orthodox priests assigned to parishes, their level of education. The author briefly touches on the problem of Catholics and representatives of the Armenian Gregorian Church, who were not allowed to establish houses of prayer. The article provides statistics of the rituals requested in Tashkent in the context of the Assumption Cathedral and the Alexander Nevsky Church. The author comes to the conclusion that the demand for Orthodox rituals in the churches of Tashkent was associated with the high proportion of the Russian population living in the capital.

scholarly journals Polityka władz państwowych wobec wyboru i działalności metropolity Makarego, zwierzchnika Polskiego Autokefalicznego Kościoła Prawosławnego

2015 ◽  
pp. 72-84
Author(s):  
Stefan Dudra
Keyword(s):  
Government Policy ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Close Cooperation ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church ◽  
Selection Of

Government policy towards the election and activity of Metropolitan Macarius (Oksijuk) In post-war Poland, the state authorities aimed at taking control of the religious life of the individual Churches and religious organizations. Surveillance efforts were made to maintain, among others, by appropriate selection of the superior of the Church and diocesan bishops. The election of Macarius (Oksijuk), Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church for the position of Metropolitan in July 1951 years should be understood in this context. The hierarch was also to give a guarantee of loyalty, implement his policy in line with the vision of communist authorities and ensure close cooperation with the Patriarchate of Moscow. Unrealized demands of the state authorities (emerging Russification trends, the lack of wider support in missionary activity among the Greek Catholics) contributed to undertake a process of dismissing Macarius from managing the Orthodox Church. Polityka władz państwowych wobec wyboru i działalności metropolity Makarego, zwierzchnika Polskiego Autokefalicznego Kościoła PrawosławnegoPowojenna polityka państwa wobec Polskiego Autokefalicznego Kościoła Prawosławnego zmierzała do ograniczenia jego roli tylko do zadań religijnych, jednocześnie przy objęciu pozostałej działalności całkowitą kontrolą. Nadzór starano się utrzymywać m.in. poprzez odpowiedni dobór zwierzchnika Kościoła. Jednym z elementów polityki był wybór na stanowisko metropolity w 1951 roku Makarego (Oksijuka), arcybiskupa Rosyjskiego Kościoła Prawosławnego. Po odsunięciu w 1948 roku od zarządzania Kościołem metropolity Dionizego władze wyznaniowe dążyły do obsadzenia tronu metropolitalnego przez hierarchę, który miałby realizować politykę kościelną zgodną z linią polityczną władz. Pomimo zrealizowania założonych celów metropolita Makary okazał się hierarchą, który nie spełnił oczekiwań władz (m.in. w zakresie polityki wobec grekokatolików), co wpłynęło na podjęcie decyzji o usunięciu go z zajmowanego stanowiska.

Caesaropapism and Secularism in the Byzantine and Russian Tradition

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30
Author(s):  
Michael A. Eldin ◽  
Sergey I. Malozemov
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Local Council ◽  
Research Problems

Introduction. The role of Orthodox confessional heritage and the analysis of social traditions of the Balkan and Russian peoples are considered in the generalizing characteristic of the spiritual creations of the thinkers of Rus and Russia. The multidirectional tendencies of anti-clerical forces on the one hand, and of the Church community on the other, indicate that the topic of secularization of Russian society has not received an actual resolution. The purpose of the article is to examine the understanding of the processes of caesaropapism and secularism in Russian society, as well as the historiosophical and methodological consequences of this understanding. Materials and Methods. An integrative approach combined with historical-methodological and philosophical-historical analysis is considered as a theoretical and methodological research strategy. The solution of research problems was provided by a complex of complementary theoretical (analysis of scientific, historical literature, journalistic research on the problem under study, comparative analysis of texts, comparison, generalization) and empirical (study and generalization of normative and legal documents of the concepts of caesaropapism and secularism) methods. Results. The considered model of understanding secularization and secularism in the realities of Russian history indicates the secondary, borrowed nature of these concepts. According to the authors, the Decrees of the Byzantine emperors, acts of the Council of people’s Commissars “On the separation of Church from state and Church from school” did not meet the expectations of the participants of the local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, who expressed their aspirations in the document “on the legal status of the Russian Orthodox Church”. Discussion and Conclusion. The expected effect of the actual understanding of the processes can be a well-built model of state-Church relations, which can only appear if the diverse interests of the actors of modern state-religious policy in Russia are balanced. The proposed provisions and conclusions create prerequisites for further study of the phenomena of secularism and secularization in the design of the state-religious landscape of the near future.

The Russian Orthodox Church versus the State: The Josephite Movement, 1927-1940

Slavic Review ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail V. Shkarovskii
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Neutral Position ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Totalitarian Regime ◽  
National Crisis

Russia is embarking upon a new path of historical development. Today, as the country gradually liberates itself from the vestiges of a nondemocratic society, it seems especially propitious to trace the subordination in the 1920s and 1930s of Russia's most important social institutions to a nascent totalitarian regime. The Russian Orthodox Church belongs on the list of such institutions. During its long history it frequently exerted a stabilizing, consolidating effect on the nation, especially during times of national crisis; even during the civil war it maintained a neutral position.

scholarly journals Holy Spirit Skete of the Pochaev Lavra Under Archbishop of Ternopol Palladiy (Kaminsky)

2021 ◽  
pp. 243-255
Author(s):  
Валентин Викторович Серпенинов
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The State ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Special Effect ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Soviet Government

Предметом данного исследования является история последних лет существования Почаевского Свято-Духова скита в советский период, обстоятельства его закрытия и непосредственная деятельность архиепископа Палладия (Каминского), выступившего бесстрашным защитником этой обители. На примере Почаевского скита можно проследить некоторые особенности религиозной политики коммунистической партии в УССР, где советская власть установилась лишь в 1939 г., что не могло особым образом отразиться на церковно-государственных отношениях. Источниковую базу составляют квартальные и годичные отчёты уполномоченных Совета по делам Русской Православной Церкви в Тернопольской области, которые мы находим в Государственном архиве Российской Федерации и Государственном архиве Тернопольской области. Благодаря анализу архивных материалов мы приходим к выводу о деструктивной политике советской власти, направленной на борьбу с Русской Церковью на территории Тернопольской области. Главным объектом вышеуказанной политики являлась Почаевская лавра и её Духовской скит. Полной ликвидации православных монастырей в Тернопольской епархии советская власть добиться не смогла благодаря дипломатическому таланту архиепископа Палладия, который поплатился за это очередным переводом на другую кафедру Русской Православной Церкви. The subject of this study is the history of the last years of the existence of the Pochaev Holy Spirit Skete in the Soviet period, the circumstances of its closure and the direct activities of Archbishop Palladiy (Kaminsky), who acted as a fearless defender of this monastery. On the example of the Pochaev skete, one can trace some features of the religious policy of the Communist Party in the Ukrainian SSR, where Soviet power was established only in 1939, which could not have a special effect on church-state relations. The source base consists of quarterly and annual reports of the commissioners of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Ternopil region, which we find in the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the State Archive of the Ternopil region. Thanks to the analysis of archival materials, we come to the conclusion about the destructive policy of the Soviet government aimed at combating the Russian Church in the territory of the Ternopil region. The main object of the above-mentioned policy was the Pochaev Lavra and its Dukhovskoy skete. The Soviet authorities were unable to achieve the complete liquidation of Orthodox monasteries in the Ternopil diocese thanks to the diplomatic talent of Archbishop Palladiy, who paid for it with another transfer to another department of the Russian Orthodox Church.

scholarly journals THE WAY TO THE AUTOCEPHALY OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN 1918 (THROUGH THE PRIZE OF DOCUMENTS OF THE SECOND SESSION OF THE ALL-UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX COUNCIL)

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-42
Author(s):  
A. Sliusarenko ◽  
T. Pshenychnyi
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Tradition

The events that are taking place today in the church field of the Ukrainian State testify to the importance of the national church in building the national security of the country. The union of the church with the state has been formed for centuries, and to consider the absence of this tandem today would be wrong. However, such an alliance can be dangerous for the state if the church provokes separatism, ignites national conflict, undermines the national security of the state. Evidence of this is the aggressive policy of the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church towards Ukraine throughout history, which has turned the church into an instrument of political games. Thus, by annexing the Metropolitan of Kiev in 1686 and establishing a protectorate over the Ukrainian church space, the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church did everything to destroy the Ukrainian church tradition. History of Ukraine of the twentieth century testifies to the repeated attempts of Ukrainians to get out of the grip of the Russian Orthodox Church and build their own independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. A striking example of this is the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Church Council of 1918, which, in the context of national competitions of the Ukrainian people for their own state, brought to the agenda of the revolutionary events the question of independence of the Ukrainian Church. At the second session of the Council, the idea of autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for the first time in many years consolidated a small part of the Ukrainian church and political elite around it. This article is devoted to analyzing the documents of this council session. The author tries to present the main stages of the competition for the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the difficulties that have arisen.

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