In the article, the author examines the legal status of the Russian party apparatus of the Orthodox Church in the Khrushchev era. An in-depth analysis of the regulatory framework has been carried out, which allows us to conclude that in the second half — of the twentieth century, the Russian Orthodox Church was on the verge of destruction. The party under the leadership of N. S. Khrushchev launched large-scale anti-religious actions.
Keywords: Russian Orthodox Church, legislation, atheistic propaganda.
The first steps towards revising the church question were taken in 1954, when two Resolutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU were issued at once: «On major shortcomings in scientific atheist propaganda and measures to improve it» and «On mistakes in conducting scientific and atheistic propaganda among the population».
The first summarized the weak anti-religious propaganda among all segments of the population and the obvious revival of churches and various sects, which resorted to measures «to poison people's minds with religious dope, paying special attention to attracting young people and women to the church» [1,p. 160]. The decree obliges the Ministry of Culture, trade union committees and other party organizations to use comprehensive methods and various sources to educate the population.
It should be noted that N. S. Khrushchev saw religion as a problem in rural areas, not in cities. Religious rites and holidays allegedly undermine agricultural productivity, and collective farms suffer. We included statistics, and it turned out that collective farms lose about 80 thousand working days a year due to holidays [5]. Journalists and editors were asked to strengthen anti-religious propaganda. Moreover, it was necessary to reach the villages through radio and television. The measures taken have borne fruit, but still they were not enough.
The second resolution sharply criticized administrative interference in church affairs «instead of launching systematic painstaking work to promote natural science knowledge and ideological struggle against religion» [1, p. 169]. The decree explained that before the revolution, the church exploited the masses to serve an autocratic regime, and after the revolution, it supported counter-revolutionary elements at home and imperialist ambitions abroad. These two decrees contradicted each other in some respects. But now the party cadres had to understand that since the social roots of religion had been removed, the struggle against religion had turned into an ideological confrontation between the scientific-materialist worldview and the anti-scientific religious worldview. And religion has become an ideological problem, not a political one.
The onslaught from the Government was steadily increasing. The right to register church communities was assigned to the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church after the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of February 7, 1955 «On changing the procedure for opening prayer halls». The text noted the possibility of registering existing parish communities on an informal basis. This measure was primarily aimed at minimizing the risk of the church going underground.
In the fall of 1958, a «new war» was declared against religion. As Victoria Smolkin writes in her work «A Holy Place is Never Empty: the History of Russian Atheism», that in April 1958 a certain Shapovnikova, a special correspondent of a literary newspaper, sent a letter to the secretary of the Central Committee M. I. Suslov [3, p.105]. In it, she described the shock of meeting Baptists in the country, and suddenly realized how much power the Baptist preacher had over people. This letter caused alarm in the party, and an investigation was conducted into the religious situation. As a result, the government began issuing decrees restricting the influence of religion. Thus, the secret resolution of the Central Committee of October 4, 1958 «On the shortcomings of scientificо- and atheistic propaganda «was addressed to all party organizations, public organizations, and state bodies, and the emphasis was placed on intensifying activities to combat the» religious remnants " of citizens. Decrees of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of October 16 «On monasteries in the USSR» and «On taxation of income of enterprises of diocesan administrations, as well as income of monasteries»: introduced even more severe taxes on the buildings of churches and monasteries themselves, including a tax on the sale of candles, imposed a ban on the use of hired labor in monasteries, from the use of monksland plots were seized more frequently [4, p. 145].
In early September 1958, before the public knew about the upcoming new anti-religious campaign, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Affairs Council went to Odessa to meet with Patriarch Alexy. G. G. Karpov was supposed to delicately inform about the upcoming campaign and enlist his cooperation. When Karpov announced the party's intention to close the Kiev Caves Monastery, the patriarch threatened to resign from his post, which was completely unacceptable for the council, because it has always been in the center of attention on the international stage.
A compromise was reached between the State and the church on the issue of eliminating superstition. A month and a half later, on November 28, the Presidium of the Communist Party adopted a resolution «On measures to stop pilgrimage to the so-called 'Holy Places'". This meant that many places of pilgrimage were destroyed or other objects were created in their places: wells were filled with concrete, proclaimed guardians of religious knowledge were harassed and detained, and unregistered priests who traveled around the villages performing rituals were harassed and detained. So, for example, in the Shebekinsky district of the Belgorod region, a «holy well» in the village of Ustinka was filled up a few days before the holiday Ustinka. Based on archival documents, N. V. Ostroukhova notes a number of other measures used by party organizations to ensure public order. In the spring of 1959, police posts were regularly on duty along the Belgorod — Shebekino highway [2, p. 164].
The main thing is that the Russian Orthodox Church itself helped the Soviet authorities in this, and the clergy's interest in strengthening the border between religion and superstition coincided with Khrushchev's plan. It was advantageous for the church to convince the government that real religion had nothing to do with individual expressions of faith and superstition, and they were ready to fight this. And for Khrushchev, the fight against superstition was part of a broader project to build a rational and modern Soviet society.
The voice of the first Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU on the need to develop a program for the rapid transition of Soviet society to communism grew louder and more confident. At the XXI Congress of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the primary task put forward by the main ideologists of the country for the upcoming seven — year period is «improving public consciousness». For the successful implementation of the above-mentioned task, on January 13, 1960, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union issued a resolution «On measures to eliminate violations of the Soviet legislation on Cults by the clergy». It severely undermined the extra-ecclesiastical way of life: strict censorship was introduced on the content of sermons, the purchase and construction of real estate, as well as the ringing of bells provided for the permission of the authorities, it was forbidden to provide financial support to small parishes. Thus, by significantly restricting the rights of the clergy, the party apparatus hoped for a quick victory over the hated religion.
In addition, the RSFSR Criminal Code provided for criminal liability for violating the laws on the separation of church from state and school from church, adopted under Lenin. Correctional labor was provided for up to one year or a fine of 50 rubles. for initial attraction. Citizens faced up to three years of imprisonment in case of a secondary violation of these laws.
The measures taken have borne fruit, but still they were not enough. In reports sent by the Russian Orthodox Church, the KGB noted that there were priests who ridiculed the efforts of atheists. It was reported that in Latvia, priests said that the quality of Soviet atheism was so low that they had nothing to worry about.
There was a reverse effect, rumors began to flow about the closure of churches and this caused many protests. People, on the contrary, began to visit churches more and more often and began to be baptized en masse. The Russian Orthodox Church Affairs Council concluded that increased anti-religious propaganda has actually led to a sudden increase in demand for religious rites.
The entire legal framework of the 50s and 60s, as well as the reports presented at the XXII Party Congress, brought the anti-religious war to a new level. But the Russian Orthodox Church adequately withstood all the blows of the «militant atheists». The ideological doctrine of the Soviet state could not compete with the centuries-old traditions of the Church. It should be noted that the tightening of the anti-religious campaign has significantly affected the material and administrative situation of the Russian Orthodox Church since the Great Patriotic War.
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