Soviet Antireligious Campaigns and Persecutions : Volume 2 of a History of Soviet Atheism in Theory and Practice and the Believer

IX x General Introduction to the Three-Volume Work never-ending Soviet attack on religion and on believers. This will include as detailed and documented an account as possible of the direct persecutions, of which the most massive occurred in the following periods and under the following pretexts:February 1918 to late 19 20. A bloody attack on the clergy and active laity was conducted under the pretext of their opposition to communism, their real or alleged sympathy for the Whites, and the resistance of lay believers to the nationalization of all church property in accordance with the Soviet decree of 23 January 1918. 1921 to 1923. This wave of arrests of clergy and laity, with executions of some of the most influential and popular church leaders, was officially motivated by their resistance to the confiscation of all church plate of any value, including liturgical vessels.1922 to 1926. Persecution of the traditional Orthodox Church and her faithful clergy and laity for their refusal to join the state-supported Renovationist schism.1926 to 1927. Arrests, exile and imprisonment of masses of bishops, as well as some regular parish clergy faithful to them, for an attempt to elect a patriarch secretly.1928 to 1934. Arrest and liquidation of clergy and lay activists for refusing to accept Metropolitan Sergii's wording of the Declaration of Loyalty to the Soviet State and for breaking administrative connections with him.1929 to 1930. The beginning of mass liquidation of rural parishes and their clergy and lay supporters under the guise of the collectivization and 'dekulakization' campaign.1933 to 1934. Destruction of the remaining monastic communities and the liquidation of monks and nuns, along with many members of the urban and rural clergy, particularly renowned preachers and spiritual fathers.1936 to 1939. Almost total liquidation of religious temples, clergy and active lay believers of all faiths.1959 to 1964. Khrushchev's physical attack on the Church and all other religious faiths, closure and destruction of the majority of the temples reopened during the religiously 'tolerant' era of 1941 to 195 7, arrests and deportations of large numbers of clergy and laity-all under the pretext of imminent construction of communism, incompatible with faith in the Supernatural.I. Although the term samizdat appeared only in the early 1960s, the Church, the theologians and other church authors have used similar methods for the writing and dissemination of their literature from the early 1920s, after the regime had deprived the Orthodox Church of printing presses, to the present day.I. The terms 'Great' and 'Little' Russians are of Byzantine origin, wherein the core area of a nation was called 'Little' while the zones of its later imperial expansion received the appellation 'Great'.Although all the errors and shortcomings in this work are solely my own responsibility, a number of individuals and institutions have greatly contributed to its 'delivery' if not to its 'birth'.Without their help the 'child' would have had many more defects and the birth would have been much more painful. First, I owe my thanks to Dr Edward Manukian. Chapter 1 of Vol. 1 is largely his work. As a professional Marxologist with the equivalent of a doctoral degree in philosophy from Leningrad University, he was the right person to write the theoretical chapter. My son, Andrew Pospielovsky, a fourth-year Russian history honours student at the University of Western Ontario at the time of this writing, compiled the bibliography, the Appendix on Soviet antireligious legislation and the index for the first volume, wherefore I owe him many thanks. I should also express my deep gratitude to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of Western Ontario Academic Development Fund, without whose grants the research that went into writing this study would have been impossible. I owe my thanks to the administration and staff of the Hoover Inst,itution Library and Archives, the Bakhmeteff Russian Emigre Archives at Columbia University, the Dr Lieb Archiv at the Basel University Library, the Widener Library and the Russian Research Center at Harvard University, the Library of Congress and the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies. Most of the illustrations in this volume have been found at the Hoover Archives, some at Harvard. I should like to thank both institutions for allowing me to use them. Much of the first-hand information in this study would simply not have been there had it not been for the willing co-operation of scores of recent Russian emigres and other persons directly involved in the life of the contemporary Church in the USSR, who had granted interviews or wrote letters about their experiences to this author. I am particularly grateful to Fr. Alexander Garklavs of Sts. Peter and Paul Orthodox church, Buffalo, N.Y., for providing me with the Metropolitan Sergii (Voskresensky) memoranda to be found in Appendix 1 of this volume. The XVll murdered Metropolitan was Alexander's godfather and the mss. have been kept in his adopted father's, Archbishop John (Garklavs) of Riga and Chicago, personal archives. Fr. Alexander is a war orphan. SOME TECHNICAL POINTS Italics. Unless otherwise noted, all italics within quotations are in the original. The exceptions are the normal use of italics to indicate a title or a foreign term.Transliterations. Generally, the Library of Congress system is used, with the following exceptions:In personal names 'sky' ending is used instead of 'skii'; 'ya' and 'yu' are used in personal names to depict '10' and '11', instead of'ia' and 'iu', e.g. Yaroslavsky, not Iaroslavskii.'X' is used to transliterate the Russian 'ks' throughout.A single apostrophe(') is used for both soft (b) and the hard (7>) signs.The Calendar. Prior to February 1918 the Julian Calendar was used in Russia, which was thirteen days behind the Western Gregorian one in the twentieth century. Wherever the Old Calendar is used, it is indicated as o.s., i.e. old style.Abbreviations. These are noted in the appropriate places in the main text and in the notes and references whenever a certain title is used more than two or three times. For example, Bezbozhnik u stanka becomes Bezbust. Similarly, such oftrepeated publication cities in bibliographical references as Moscow, Front Matter....Pages i-xix The Early Persecutions, 1917–21....Pages 1-18 Contempt and Hate Propaganda, 1919–39....Pages 19-46 Persecutions, 1921–41....Pages 47-90 An ‘Interlude’: From 1941 to Stalin’s Death....Pages 91-97 Renewal of the Incendiary Propaganda, 1958–85....Pages 98-120 Persecutions under Khrushchev....Pages 121-144 Persecutions after Khrushchev....Pages 145-187 Epilogue....Pages 188-192 Back Matter....Pages 193-275 V.1. A History Of Marxist-leninist Atheism And Soviet Antireligious Policies -- V.2. Antireligious Campaigns And Persecutions -- V.3. Soviet Studies On The Church And The Believer's Response To Atheism Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 260-264. v. 1. A history of Marxist-Leninist atheism and Soviet antireligious policies. v. 2. Soviet anti-religious campaigns and persecutions. v. 3. Soviet studies on the church and the believers response to atheism.