The “Communist” Transformation and the Phenomenon of Soviet Patriotism among Orthodox Believers in the Late USSR

The paper is devoted to the phenomenon of the “communist shift” in the mass Orthodox culture of the late USSR. The author analyzes the pro-Soviet rhetoric of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the peculiarities of the consciousness of ordinary believers which allowed the community of Orthodox-oriented citizens to remain part of the Soviet society in the cultural dimension. The paper shows that the Church made significant efforts to form a social concept consonant with the ideals of the communist party in the post-war period. The basis of this concept was Soviet patriotism, the struggle for peace, equality and fraternity of peoples, social justice and progress, respect for personality together with criticism of the vices of the capitalist system. In the 1950s and 1980s, the corresponding values were repeatedly proclaimed in official speeches, sermons, publications of the representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. At the same time, they tried not to touch on the fundamentally insoluble in the Soviet realities contradiction between religious and atheistic worldviews.

The “communist transformation” of the Church as a community of believers was not just a survival strategy. Socialization in the Soviet cultural environment led to the formation of a large stratum of the priests who sincerely shared the ideals of building a “new world”, believed in the compatibility of religion and communism, as well as the great historical mission of the USSR. The Soviet patriotism of the clerics was also stimulated by the spiritual demands of the Orthodox-oriented citizens who were increasingly accustomed to consider themselves Soviet people. The work demonstrates that a significant part of the population saw the practical embodiment of the Christian values in the socialist transformations, turning a blind eye to the atheism of the dominant ideology or viewing it as a misunderstanding, the existence of which must be reconciled. At the same time, the mission of the Church was often associated with spiritual support in new social conditions and assistance to the state in its good endeavors by adherents of Orthodox churches.

1. Apanasenok A.V., Bubnov A.Y. (2021). Orthodox Practices in the structure of everyday life of the USSR citizens in 1940s – 1950s. Voprosy istorii, no. 12-3, pp. 204– 214 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31166/VoprosyIstorii202112Statyi93.

2. Beglov A.L. (2018). International Activity of the Russian Orthodox Church during the “New Deal” Between the State and the Church. Periodization and the Elements of Crisis. Outlines of Global Transformations: Politics, Economics, Law, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 104–129 (in Russian). DOI: 10.23932/2542-0240-2018-11-4-104- 129.

3. Belyakova N.A., Pivovarov N.Yu. (2018). Religious Diplomacy of the Soviet Unionduring the Cold War (the time of N.S. Khrushchev and L.I. Brezhnev). Outlines of Global Transformations: Politics, Economics, Law, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 130–149 (in Russian). DOI: 10.23932/2542-0240- 2018-11-4-130-149.

4. Hudyakov S.N. (1951). About overcoming religious prejudices. Kishinev : State Publishing House of Moldova, 32 pp. (in Russian).

5. Kail’ M.V. (2021). Orthodoxy in Russia 1914–1964: The Experience of Studying and Public Memory in the Discourse of Repression and the Search for Alternative Cognitive approaches. Novyj istoricheskij vestnik, no. 3 (69), pp. 74–86 (in Russian).

6. Kryvelev I.A. (1961). Overcoming religious and everyday survivals among the peoples of the USSR. Sovetskaya Etnografiya, no. 4, pp. 30–44 (in Russian).

7. Kurochkin P.K. (1977). Evolution of religion and the Church in a socialist society. Voprosy nauchnogo ateizma, issue 21. Moscow : Mysl’, pp. 19–36 (in Russian).

8. Lizgunov Pavel (priest). (2021). The Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate as an Instrument of ‘Reconciliation’ of Orthodox and Soviet Identities Among Believers in the USSR in the 1940s–1980s”. Cerkovnyj istorik, no. 2 (6), pp. 147–157 (in Russian).

9. Ludogovsky N.S. (2008). Notes of a pilgrim. Moscow : Satis, 203 pp. (in Russian).

10. Luka (archbishop of Crimea and Simferopol) (1948). The Lord has called us to peace. Zhurnal Moskovskoj patriarhii, no. 1, pp. 61–64 (in Russian).

11. Melnik S.V. (2022) Interreligious dialogue: typologization, methodology, forms of implementation. Moscow : INION RAN, 398 pp. (in Russian).

12. O zhizni russkoy tserkvi (1950). About the life of the Russian Church. Vestnik russkogo studencheskogo hristianskogo dvizheniya, Paris, no. 1, pp. 19–24 (in Russian).

13. Pospelovskij D.V. (1995). The Russian Orthodox Church in the XX century. Moscow : Respublika, 511 pp. (in Russian).

14. Shkarovskij M.V. (2010). The Russian Orthodox Church in the XX century. Moscow : Veche, 478 pp. (in Russian).

15. Shlihta N.V. (2012). “Orthodox” and “Soviet”: on the question of the identity of believers of Soviet citizens (1940s-early 1970s)’. Antropologicheskij forum, no. 23, pp. 82–107 (in Russian).

16. Siegelbaum L.H. (1992). Religion, Anti-Religion and Double Faith // Soviet State and Society between Revolutions, 1918–1929. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, pp. 156–165.

17. Smolkin V. (2021). A sacred space is never empty. A history of Soviet atheism. Moscow : Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 552 pp. (in Russian).

18. Sorok let… (1957). Forty years of the revived Patriarchate. Zhurnal Moskovskoj Patriarhii, no. 12, pp. 36–45 (in Russian).

19. Stone A.B. (2008). “Overcoming Peasant Backwardness”: The Khrushchev Antireligious Campaign and the Rural Soviet Union. Russian Review, vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 296–320.

20. Takahasi S. (2012). Two types of religiosity from the time of late Socialism: Orthodox believers of the Vladimir region. Gosudarstvo, religiya, Cerkov’ v Rossii i za rubezhom, no. 3–4 (30), pp. 328–348 (in Russian).

21. Tserkov’ v Sovetskoy Rossii… (1954). The Church in Soviet Russia. Vestnik russkogo studencheskogo hristianskogo dvizheniya. Paris, New-York, no. 1, pp. 21– 26 (in Russian).

22. Young G. (1997). Power and the Sacred in Revolutionary Russia: Religious Activists in the Village. University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press, 307 pp.

23. Yurchak A. (2021). It was forever, until it was over. The last Soviet generation. Moscow : Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 661 pp. (in Russian).

24. Vorob’eva N.V. (2019). Constructing the “Soviet” Identity in the Autobiographies of Omsk Bishops. Omskie nauchnye chteniya – 2019. Materialy Tret’ej Vserossijskoj nauchnoj konferencii. Omsk : Omsk St. Univ. Publ., pp. 962–963 (in Russian).

25. Zabolotskij N. (1967). The Russian Orthodox Church in new social conditions. Zhurnal Moskovskoj patriarhii, no. 7, pp. 33–38 (in Russian).

26. Zakharchuk M. (2014). On priestly bread: Mother’s Stories. Ryazan : Zerna-Slovo, 192 pp. (in Russian).