THE NATURE OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH AND THE SOVIET STATE IN 1920s ON MATERIALS OF THE KUBAN)

Abstract

The article discusses the evolution of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet State during the 1920s with the reference to materials of the Kuban River. The paper highlights the influence of Communist ideology on the development of religious policy of the Soviet State, defines its basic principles after the victory of the October Revolution and under the conditions of a new economic policy. The repressive measures of the Bolshevik party against clerics and Orthodox believers in the Kuban region during the Civil war and the campaign to confiscate Church values in the early 1920s are estimated. Examples of selfless conduct of traditional Orthodox faith believers under conditions of imposing the renovationist Church in the Kuban region, which played a negative role in weakening the ROC. The article reflects the contradictory attitude of the Soviet Government to the Orthodox Church in the midst of the climax of the NEP in the middle of the 1920s. On the one hand, there was a definite decline in repressive actions, on the other hand, there was certain strengthening of anti-religious propaganda, attempts to replace religious faith with new Communist ideology and the Soviet way of life. The author studies the influence of administrative-command system and the modernization of Soviet society in the late 1920s on strengthening the offensive nature of the anti-religious policy of the Soviet State and significant restrictions on opportunities available to the ROC. The article provides the examples of closure of churches and implementation of repressive measures against the clergy in the Kuban during grain procurement and collectivization of agriculture. Conclusions are drawn about the negative consequences of this policy for the future activities of the ROC and the Orthodox faith in the Kuban region and country on the whole.