INTRODUCTION

IN this work I'm trying to review the events that took place in the area Soviet Russia and directly related to Russian Orthodoxy. The baptism of Rus' began in 988, that is, in the 10th century. The October Revolution (some historians call it the October Revolution) occurred in 1917. This means that Orthodoxy had existed in Russia for 929 years at that point. The timing is impressive! During this time, Orthodoxy became the ideology of the people, merged with the culture of the people, ideologically united the people, became the spiritual strength of the people and permeated all spheres of the people’s life. Truly, it was the force cementing Russian society.

The revolutionaries who came to power in 1917 were mostly atheists. They were faced with a fantastic task: to destroy the old society completely and create a prototype of the society of the future (communist), the construction and organization options for which were considered in various “Utopias”. The Bolsheviks had no experience of state building, but they had an abundance of ambition and pragmatism in their actions. In addition, they were not going to rebuild the country, but to completely destroy it: state, legal, military, educational and spiritual structures, and destroy all economic and property ties. And there were few of them, insignificantly few compared to general population, which was brought up in the spirit of Orthodoxy for more than 900 years. What came of it? It is to this relationship between Russian Orthodoxy and the Soviet state, their relations to each other and the events in the country taking place against the backdrop of these relations that I dedicate my work.

The principle of separation of state and church

IN state law the principle that rejects state interference in the internal affairs of the church presupposes the refusal of the church to participate in public administration and freedom of citizens from coercion to practice a particular religion. V.I. Lenin wrote: “The state should not care about religion, religious societies should not be associated with state power” (P.S.S., ed. 5, vol. 12, p. 143). In the Soviet state, the separation of church and state was proclaimed one of the first acts of Soviet power - a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR in 1918, then confirmed by the Constitutions of 1918, 1936.

The separation of church and state is one of the constitutional principles of other countries. In democratic states, citizens are guaranteed the right not to adhere to any religion and conduct anti-religious propaganda; none of the religions enjoys privileges or any encouragement from the state: religious associations are considered as private organizations, autonomous in their internal organization and in matters relating to faith.

Decree “On the separation of church from state and school from church”, 1918. On the status of religious organizations in Russian society

This decree was discussed and adopted by the Bolshevik government - the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) on the night of January 20-21, 1918, and on January 21-23 it was published in central and local newspapers. It declared religion to be a private matter of citizens. Discrimination according to religious grounds was prohibited. The church was separated from the state, the school from the church.

The external legitimation of the new government corresponded to democratic norms, but the same decree deprived religious organizations of their rights legal entity and they were prohibited from owning property. All church property was declared “public property”, from which items necessary for worship and church publications could be transferred for the use of religious communities.

The decree was implemented by a special department of the People's Commissariat of Justice. Already at the beginning of 1918, churches were closed under government institutions and theological schools; confiscation of real estate belonging to the church began, including land, houses parable, charities. In a number of places, the implementation of the decree resulted in bloody clashes between parishioners and punitive detachments of the Soviet government.

According to the ideological doctrine of the Bolshevik state, religion as a reactionary force was subject to complete eradication during the creation of a communist society.

The philosopher S. Bulgakov wrote: “ Soviet statehood although it proclaimed de jure separation (of church from state), de facto it is the only confessional state in the world in which the dominant religion is the militant atheism of the communist sect” (vol. 3 p. 343).

Most of the hierarchs and clergy, in their views, could not sympathize with the Bolshevik revolution. During the civil war, in the territories occupied by “white” troops and under the jurisdiction of anti-Bolshevik governments, independent temporary bodies of church administration were created. At the same time, Patriarch Tikhon did everything to prevent the church from becoming involved in the political struggle, prohibiting the participation of clergy in the confrontation on anyone’s side.

Tikhon's numerous appeals to the Soviet government did not contain political assessments and, for all their harshness, were not in the nature of threats, but of exhortations.

Despite repeated requests, Saint Tikhon never gave a pastoral blessing to any of the “white” movements.

In his archpastoral message of 1919, the Patriarch wrote: “Two forces are fighting in the country, attracting the Orthodox people to their side. But they have only one church... Therefore, my duty and responsibility is to spiritually nourish both of them.”

The situation was aggravated by the fact that the church took an openly negative position regarding not only the church policy of the state, but also its entire domestic and foreign policy. Among the clergy, especially in its numerous lower stratum, there was a polarization of opinions. Part of the peasantry opposed the implementation of the decree, viewing it as an instrument for breaking the traditional way of life. Dissatisfaction was also caused by negligence in the handling of archives and documentation of church bodies when evicting them from occupied premises, confiscation of religious objects without drawing up inventories, executions and arrests of clergy without the sanction of higher authorities.

With the outbreak of the civil war, the clergy also took an active part in it, mainly on the side of the white movement. A clash with the authorities became inevitable. As a result of the aggravation of the political situation by the summer of 1918 (rebellions, conspiracies, white terror), the Council of People's Commissars adopted the Resolution of September 5, 1918 “On the Red Terror.” All “persons involved in White Guard organizations, conspiracies and rebellions” were subject to execution. The clergy, due to a number of decisions of the Local Council, were increasingly ranked among the White Guards.

Often, clergy were killed by members of the punitive authorities among the “counter-revolutionary elements” when the “white” troops approached: in June 1918, Bishop Hermogenes of Tobolsk was shot as the army of the Siberian government approached Tobolsk, and Bishop Ambrose of Sviyazhsk was shot in August 1918 by personal order Trotsky.

In a number of cases, the authorities sought to destroy clergy who had great authority among the population. Priests were often shot as hostages during the “Red Terror,” such as the rector of the Intercession Cathedral in Moscow, Archpriest I. Vostorgov, and the rector of the Kazan Cathedral in Petrograd, F. Ornatsky.

In fairness, it must be said that there was cruelty, terror and violence during the civil war on both sides. And if the Soviet authorities destroyed the clergy, then the “white” authorities of the “commissars” and “communists”. The Orthodox Church in the “white” territory did not condemn such a policy at all; moreover, it convinced the flock in sermons and the church press that killing the “reds” was not a sin, but “fulfilling one’s duty to the Motherland.”

Simultaneously with the closure, the monastery's property was confiscated, and attempts to counteract it were brutally suppressed. So in October 1918, a battalion of security officers under the command of A. Vaegner plundered the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery in Leningrad region. Archimandrite Eugene, who tried to protest, was killed.

Significant valuables accumulated over centuries were exported from the monasteries: in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, silver liturgical utensils, crosses and jewelry with a total weight of 2400 kg were taken; from the Solovetsky Monastery - over 300 kg; from the Kremlin Miracle Monastery - 450 kg; from the Moscow St. Danilov, Simonov, and Ascension monasteries - 400-420 kg each.

At the same time, concentration camps and prisons were set up in the premises of closed monasteries: in Moscow, Spaso-Andronakov, Novospassky and Ivanovsky monasteries were converted into camps for “enemies of the people.” In 1921, the notorious Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp (SLON) was organized in the monastery buildings on the Solovetsky Islands.

In order to undermine the influence of the church in 1919-1920. a barbaric action was carried out to open the relics of holy saints kept in cathedrals and monasteries. In July 1920, a special resolution was adopted by the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR “On the liquidation of relics on an all-Russian scale.” The opening of the relics was carried out publicly, and its progress was filmed. If it was discovered that the remains of saints had not been preserved, this was presented as evidence of “deception of the working people by the clergy,” although according to church canons the incorruptibility of relics is not at all necessary for their holiness.

A total of 63 autopsies were performed, including the relics of the most revered saints by the church - Alexander Svirsky, Artemy Varkolsky, Tikhon of Zadonsk, Mitrofan of Voronezh, Savva of Storozhevsky, Sergius of Radonezh, Seraphim of Sarov; the most revered relics were confiscated for anti-religious museums.

The authorities responded to protests from church circles with repression. In January 1920, a group of Moscow priests and laymen was arrested, including the famous church leader A. Samarin is the chairman of the Council of United Parishes, created for the purpose of their material support, and professor of volcanic law, secretary of Patriarch Tikhon N. Kuznetsov. By the Moscow revolutionary trebushin they were sentenced to death, replaced by imprisonment in a concentration camp “until the complete victory of the world revolution.”

In a number of cases, the authorities, fearing to cause discontent among the people, granted amnesty to convicted clergy. So in November 1920, Bishop Alexy Khutynsky was released - the future patriarch, convicted by the Novgorod revolutionary tribunal for secretly examining the relics stored in St. Sophia Cathedral Novgorod, before their official opening. For the same reason, the authorities during 1918-1920. they were afraid to repress Patriarch Tikhon.

By this time, the highest church power was exercised individually by the patriarch, since the collegial church bodies - the Synod and the Supreme Church Council - had actually disintegrated. The main concern of the patriarch was the ordination of new bishops to replace those who died or emigrated; in 1918 - 1920 87 ordinations were carried out, as a result of which the number of bishops' departments even increased.

The revolution of 1917 broke the established stereotypes that had been formed in Russia for a very long time. There was a split between the two strongest structures of the country - the state and the church. At the beginning of the 20th century, when the founders of the Soviet state came to power, the main slogan was that the church, faith in God, religion, and the Bible were destroying society, the thoughts of the people, and did not allow Soviet society to develop freely. The same address to the people spoke about the attitude of the Social Democrats to the church, and what “reforms” would be carried out if they came to power. The main principle of the reform was the separation of church and state, so that the authorities could fight the religious “fog” in the heads of the workers.
So, from the very beginning of the formation of the RSDLP, the church became the main ideological rival in the state. Having come to power, decrees were proclaimed, their goal was to change the ideology in the thoughts of people, to configure people in such a way that the church is evil, and it should not interfere with free development. In schism, church and state existed for a very long time.

The first decree that laid the foundation for the separation of the state from church shrines was the “Decree on Land”. After its adoption, the entire economic base of the church was undermined, the church was deprived of its lands. All the wealth of the church was confiscated, making the church “poor.” By decree, lands belonging to the church were transferred to landowners at the disposal of land committees.
In 1917, after the revolution, the church was confiscated a large number of land, more than 8 million acres. The Orthodox Church, in turn, asked everyone to pray for the sins committed by the authorities; the seizure of land was perceived as the destruction of people's shrines. With its sermons, the church asked the authorities to return to the path of Christ.
The Russian Orthodox Church could not help but react to the situation in the country. On December 2, 1917, the church declared itself primacy, and the head of state, the minister of education and all their followers must be Orthodox. According to the council, property belonging to the church should not be confiscated.
Everything that was proclaimed by the church during this period ran counter to the policies of the new Soviet government. Considering the policies pursued by the state, relations between the authorities and the Russian Orthodox Church were very tense.
On December 11, 1917, the government of the newly formed country adopted another decree depriving the church of privileges. It said that the church should be deprived of all parochial schools and colleges. Everything was transferred, right down to the ground and buildings where these schools were located. The result of this decree was the deprivation of the church's educational and educational base. After this decree appeared in the press, Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd addressed the government with a letter. It said that all the measures taken threatened great grief for the Orthodox people. The Metropolitan wanted to convey to the government that this reform cannot be carried out, that it cannot be taken away from the church what has belonged to it for centuries. It was also said here that the Bolsheviks were excommunicated from the church, and the people were called upon to fight for church property.
By adopting its decrees, the Soviet government tried to provoke the church into serious confrontation. This was followed by the decree “On freedom of conscience, church and religious societies,” and then “On the separation of church and state and school from church.” As part of these decrees, it was said that it was necessary to give every person the right to independently choose the religion to worship.
The church was deprived of legal rights: all property previously belonging to the church was declared public property and transferred for the use of the people, it was forbidden to have any property, buildings where services were held, by special orders, were transferred for free use to newly created religious societies. These articles nationalized all churches so that at any time property belonging to the church could be confiscated for the benefit of those in need. This is exactly what the authorities did in 1922, confiscating property in favor of the starving Volga region.
Until the 1917th century, marriages were the responsibility of the church, but this opportunity was also taken away from them. Now marriages began to be concluded by the state, religious marriage was declared invalid.
On January 23, 1918, the Decree was adopted, and already on July 10, 1918, all provisions were enshrined in the Constitution of the Soviet State.
It is impossible to say that by one decree they were able to separate the church from the state. The new government followed this path for a year and clearly set itself the task of depriving the church of everything it had before.
Before Soviet power came to rule the country, the church was the richest unit of the state; subsequently it was deprived of everything that was in its use.

4. The first anti-church measures of the Soviet government (late 1917 - early 1918) Decree on the separation of the Church from the state and the Church’s reaction to it.

After Oct. revolution, the preparation of legislation on the separation of the Central Military District from the state and the school immediately began ( OTSGiSH). The revolutionary process was also accompanied by excesses, the victims of which. became churches, monasteries, spiritual. faces. Confiscated in St. Petersburg synodal printing house. The Patriarch and other hierarchs addressed the authorities in their messages with requests and even demands to stop putting pressure on the Church. Decree of the OCGiSH, published on January 23. 1918 came out when tensions between the Sov. right and Orthodox. hierarchy has reached its utmost acuteness. The Decree adheres to the principle secularization of the state. The Russian Orthodox Church was losing its former privileged status. It is prohibited to make any local laws within the republic. would limited freedom of conscience, or installed any privileges based on religion. Every citizen can profess any religion or not to profess any. No one can, citing their religious beliefs. views, to evade the performance of their civic duties. The school is separated from Ts-vi. Teaching religious beliefs in all state and public, as well as private educational institutions. establishments, where general education is taught. objects, not allowed. Citizens may teach and study religion privately. All churches and religious society subject to the general provisions on private societies and unions. Basically, these norms corresponded to the constitutional foundations of secular states. The fundamental novelty lies only in the last paragraphs of the Decree: “No churches or religious. society have no right to own property, and legal rights they don't have faces. All the property of those existing in Russia is Orthodox. Ts-wei and religious societies announced. public property. Buildings and objects intended specifically for religious services. goals, are given according to special resolutions of local or central authorities. power for the free use of religious societies." In response, a wave of wave of religious processions, to which Prayers were offered for the salvation of the Church. Not everywhere religious processions passed peacefully. IN Nizhny Novgorod, Kharkov, Saratov, Vladimir, Voronezh, Tula, Vyatka religious processions organized without permission from local authorities, caused clashes that resulted in deaths. The adoption of the decree was followed by the deprivation of all forms of government support from the clergy and the massive seizure of the church. property (premises, land, finances), although the churches themselves had not yet been closed.

5. Bolshevik terror against the Russian Church during the Civil War (1917-1920). The most famous new martyrs of this period.

On fire Citizen. war, many clergy became victims of civil strife, often subjected to repression due to accused of counter-revolutionary agitation or in support of the White movement. Strengthening the anti-church. shares starting from May-June 1918. By the end of the summer of 1918, the authorities spread. on spirit "Red Terror" In just a few years, Gr. According to various estimates, about 10 thousand clergy and people of the Church died during the war. In 1918-1919 the Reds were brutally killed: archbishop Perm Andronik (Nikolsky), Voronezh Tikhon (Krechkov), Tobolsk Ermogen (Dolganov), Chernigov Vasily (Epiphany), Astrakhan Mitrofan (Kranopolsky), Revel Platon (Kulbush). Ep. Ambrose (Gudko) was killed in August. 1918, on the special instructions of Trotsky, who came to Sviyazhsk with his headquarters. During these years, the famous rector of the Church of Vasily Blazh, famous throughout Russia, also died. Moscow Archpriest John Vostorgov, convicted of “anti-Semitic propaganda”, Archpriest Nikolai Konyukhov and Priest Peter Dyakov from the Perm diocese. Petrograd archpriest. After the murder of the Chairman of the Petrograd Cheka, Uritsky, Alexy Stavrovsky was arrested among the hostages and taken to Kronstadt. After the execution, the body of the martyr was thrown into the waters of the Gulf of Finland. In Jan. 1918 Gr. began in Kyiv. war. To Kiev-Pechersk. The archbishop settled in the Lavra. Alexy, agitator of the monks against the metropolitans. Kievsk. Vladimir. The alienation of the Metropolitan created the situation for the murder of the Metropolitan by a group of anarchists (a sailor and 5 soldiers) on January 25. Metropolitan. They tortured me, strangled me with a chain from a cross, demanded money, and mocked me. They shot 150 fathoms from the Lavra gates, stole gold elements of vestments, watches, boots, galoshes. In the Alexander Nevsky Lavra on January 19. 1918 Priest Pyotr Skipetrov was killed by the Red Guards. Archpriest killed. Philosopher Ornatsky, rector of the Kazan Cathedral, preacher, builder of orphanages for the poor. Many clergy, monks and nuns were brutally tortured by bandits: they were crucified on the Royal Doors, boiled in cauldrons with boiling resin, scalped, strangled, “communed” with molten lead, drowned in ice holes. 13 (26) Oct. 1918 Patr. Tikhon addressed a message to the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), where he expressed his grief over the disasters experienced by the Russian people from the fratricidal unrest, the suffering that befell the martyrs and confessors. The Council accepted several resolutions in connection with the persecution of the Orthodox Church. Ts-vy, and the first of them determined to assign OS common day for conciliar prayer for those killed for the faith and the Church. March 31 Patr. Tikhon in the MDS Church prayed for the repose of the servants of God, for the faith and the Church of those killed. In general, as a result of the masses. During the repressions, about 10 thousand clergy were killed, many ended up in prisons and concentration camps. It was especially difficult for those bishops and clergy who remained in the territory which came under Soviet control as a result of the defeat of the White troops. Only the loyalty of the clergy to the white authorities was considered as counter-revolutionary crime; the singing of prayers for the victory of white arms served as the basis for the imposition of death sentences. 11 Dec in Kama, the vicar bishop of the Perm diocese, Bishop. Feofan (Ilyinsky). Former vicar bishop Novgorod. Isidore (Kolokolov) was killed in Samara, impaled. 14 Jan 1919 Bishop was brutally murdered in the basement of the Credit Bank in Yuryev. Revelsky Platon (Kulbush) together with two archpriests. On Dec. 1919, in the monastery of St. Mitrofan, Archbishop was hanged on the royal doors. Voronezh Tikhon (Nikanorov). In the hard times of turmoil in only one Kharkov diocese 70 priests died in 6 months; in the Voronezh diocese after the capture of its territory by Red troops in December. 1919 160 priests were shot. In a short time, 43 priests were killed in the Kuban diocese.

Having taken power, the Bolsheviks began an active struggle with the Orthodox Church. Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov in his book “History of the Russian Orthodox Church” cites the following facts.

At a time when the fate of the government was still unclear, along with the laws seemingly necessary for the government, laws were adopted that had no direct relation to the political situation, but concerned the Church. This amazing wish already in the first months, to make the Church feel that it is perceived as an enemy, that it must surrender all its centuries-old positions, this is a feature of the Bolshevik rule, which, of course, speaks of their deliberate anti-Church attitude.

On December 11, 1917, a decree was issued people's commissar enlightenment, signed for greater persuasiveness by Lenin, who will confiscate everything from the Church educational establishments. Now it is no longer just parochial schools that are transferred to the Ministry of Education, leaving there the possibility of teaching church subjects, now everything is being liquidated: Theological Schools, Theological Seminaries, Theological Academies. They simply stop all their activities. Buildings, property, capital - everything is subject to confiscation. The decree practically eliminated the possibility of the existence of a system of spiritual education in Russia. This was a blow not only to the system of theological education, but also a huge expropriation of the material wealth of the Church.

On December 17-18, 1917, decrees concerning issues of marriage legislation were adopted. In accordance with these decrees, only civil marriage is recognized as legal. Registration of births, marriages, divorces and deaths is carried out only by government agencies. This was a very serious change public morality. This meant that from now on all the numerous canonical grounds for entering into and dissolving a marriage are being thrown out of Russian society. The procedure for marriage and divorce becomes as simplified as possible. The couple comes, pays a small fee, and they are divorced; or vice versa: they come and get married, being cousins and sister, being people who illegally dissolved their previous marriage.

What happened in Russia at this time was the same as what happened in France during the revolution in the early 90s of the 18th century. Went across the country huge wave divorces, conclusions and dissolution of newly concluded civil marriages. A colossal blow was dealt to family morality. You are all familiar with the phenomenon of homelessness. These are the children of those who died during the Civil War, died during epidemics and from hunger. Of course, there were a lot of children who lost their parents in this way, but the fact that the family was destroyed also played a significant role in the fact that we had street children. Illegitimate and illegitimate children became homeless children.

The Bolsheviks were, of course, dogmatists. They believed it was possible to realize communism as the manifesto of Marx and Engels spoke about it, quickly and straightforwardly. The policy of war communism begins. We usually talk about it in connection with the economy, but this policy also touched other aspects of social life. The manifesto spoke about the liquidation of not only property, not only religion, but also the family. Education becomes social. Leading figures of the Bolshevik Party write articles talking about the need to replace family education of children with public education.

Already in the early 20s, new types of houses will be built in our country. Remember the famous house “Tear of Socialism” on Troitskaya Street (now Rubinstein Street). It was built in such a way that families had only bedrooms. Dining rooms and living rooms were shared. Practice communal apartments was not only the result of a chronic housing crisis, but also an attempt to educate a new person who is created by society.

The task was set to liquidate the family, liquidate marriage. Kollontai, a person of no importance in the Bolshevik leadership, wrote amazing articles. She wrote that a bourgeois marriage based on religion should give way to a free union of people who love each other, that marriage should be based on personal affection and (a very interesting formulation) should help improve the biological level of the offspring. Socialism always comes to naturalism, like National Socialism and International Socialism. The question was seriously raised that when the civil wars, to replace family education of children with public education, so the family was not needed, it had to die out. In no other country in the world has such a terrible blow to family morality been dealt as in Russia. We are still feeling the consequences of this blow.

Decree on freedom of conscience

On January 20, 1918, just at the opening of the second session of the Local Council, a decree was issued canceling all state subsidies and subsidies to the Church and the clergy from March 1, 1918. The requirement of the Council, which assumed that the state would finance church life, was annulled, and the Church had to exist only at its own expense.

On January 20, 1918, a decree on freedom of conscience in church and religious societies was adopted, which was to become legislative basis in the Bolshevik policy towards the Church. This decree is better known as the decree on the separation of Church and state. This decree was very important, since it marked a complete revolution in church-state relations in Russia. He was the main one legislative act of this kind until 1929, when new legislation was adopted.

This decree was discussed at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars. Several people prepared his project: People's Commissar of Justice Stuchko, People's Commissar of Education Lunacharsky, People's Commissar of Justice Krasikov, Professor Reisner (lawyer, father of Commissioner Larisa Reisner, Raskolnikov's wife) and defrocked priest Galkin. Already then, alas, the clergy began to provide personnel to the persecutors of the Church as consultants. The project was prepared at the end of December 1917 and, with amendments, was approved by the Council of People's Commissars. Present at the meeting of the Council of People's Commissars were: Lenin, Bogolepov, Menzhinsky, Trutovsky, Zaks, Pokrovsky, Steinberg, Proshyan, Kozmin, Stuchko, Krasikov, Shlyapnikov, Kozlovsky, Vronsky, Petrovsky, Schlichter, Uritsky, Sverdlov, Podvoisky, Dolgasov, Maralov, Mandelstam, Petere , Mstislavsky, Bonch-Bruevich. This is also the so-called “coalition” composition: there are left Socialist Revolutionaries. So, the document came out, as they say, from the “holy of holies” of the Soviet government. Let's take a closer look at this document.

The church is separated from the state.

It is prohibited within the Republic to make any local laws or regulations that would restrict or restrict freedom of conscience or establish any advantages or privileges on the basis of the religious affiliation of citizens.

Indeed, it would be good if laws were not passed that would give privileges on the basis of religious affiliation, but pay attention to the initial part: “... that would constrain or limit freedom of conscience.” Here this concept of “freedom of conscience” is introduced, from a legal point of view, very vague. The rights of religious associations and denominations are something concrete, but free conscience is something completely vague. And if so, then the legal document, with such vagueness of its wording, opens up the possibility of any arbitrariness.

Every citizen can profess any religion or none at all. All legal deprivations associated with the confession of any faith or non-profession of any faith are abolished. From all official acts, any indication of religious affiliation or non-religious affiliation of citizens is eliminated.

This is a qualitatively new moment. The law of the Provisional Government still provided for mention in documents of either religion or non-religious status.

The actions of state or other public legal social institutions are not accompanied by any religious rites and ceremonies.

It's clear what we're talking about we're talking about. By religion here, first of all, we mean Orthodox faith. Of course, it would be strange to accompany meetings of the Council of People's Commissars with a prayer service or the board of the Cheka with a memorial service. True, looking ahead, we can say that the Bolsheviks will still have religious symbols and religious paraphernalia.

The free performance of religious rites is ensured insofar as they do not violate public order and are not accompanied by an encroachment on the rights of citizens and Soviet republic...Local authorities have the right to accept everything necessary measures to ensure public order and security in these cases.

Think about this gobbledygook: “insofar as.” What does it mean from a legal point of view: “They do not disturb public order”? The religious procession is going on along the road, it is already disturbing public order - transport cannot pass, and non-believers cannot go their own way, they need to stand aside. At such an absurd level, with references to this law, claims were then made locally. No attention was paid to the fact that for centuries our social order was not disturbed by religious rituals. The decree equates this kind of action to drinking or a fight that violates public order. But the most important thing here is something else - legal vagueness, which allows local authorities to do whatever they want, citing it “insofar as”. What measures can they take? Nothing is specified. You can do absolutely everything that local authorities deem necessary, although the law is all-Russian; local authorities are given permission to do whatever they want if they consider that any religious activity is disturbing public order.

No one can, citing religious views, avoid fulfilling their civic duties. An exception from this provision under the condition of replacing one civil duty with another in each individual case is allowed by decision of the people's court.

Bearing in mind that the “people's court” of the Bolsheviks was essentially not a judicial body, but a body of reprisals, one can imagine how it would resolve these issues. And the main thing is that this has been ignored since the summer of 1918, when, for example, they began to carry out forced mobilization into the Red Army, and even clergy could be mobilized. We are not talking about labor service and so on here. After all, what is labor conscription? When representatives of the “exploiting classes” were deprived of cards, which meant that they were deprived of their daily bread, because it was impossible to buy anything in the cities under the conditions of war communism (everything was distributed on cards). They could receive some kind of ration only if some elderly professor, retired general, or the widow of some government official went to dig trenches. And only then did they receive some piece of bread, a piece of roach. This is what “labor conscription” is. Labor conscription allowed the authorities to place undesirable people in the position of prisoners, transport them from place to place and keep them in very harsh conditions. All this naturally extended to the clergy. And the people's court could in some cases replace one labor service with another.

The religious oath or oath is canceled. In necessary cases, only a solemn promise is given.

This is not so significant if the state refused to religiously sanctify its actions.

Civil status records are maintained exclusively by the civil authorities, marriage and birth registration departments.

The Provisional Government wanted to seize these acts; the Bolsheviks did this, and it was quite justified, from their point of view.

The school is separated from the Church. Teaching religious doctrines in all state, public, and private educational institutions where general education subjects are taught is not permitted. Citizens can teach and learnreligion privately.

Compare this with the corresponding clause in the definition of legal status Churches. All general education is opposed to religious education. The remarkable formulation “privately” implies that theological educational institutions cannot exist. A priest can come to someone or invite someone to him privately and teach something there, but a group of priests and theologians getting together and opening an educational institution (not a public one, but a private one) turns out to be impossible, based on this formulation. Indeed, when the Theological Seminaries and Theological Academies were closed in 1918, it was extremely difficult to resume the activities of theological educational institutions, at least as non-state ones.

All ecclesiastical religious societies are subject to the general provisions on private societies and unions and do not enjoy any benefits or subsidies from the state or its local autonomous self-governing institutions.

Any financial aid Church support from the state ceases and it ceased in March 1918 formally, according to the relevant law. Let us give one more point, it is very crafty.

Forced collection of fees and taxes in favor of church and religious societies, as well as measures of coercion or punishment on the part of these societies over their fellow members, is not permitted.

In practice, this gave local authorities very ample opportunities. It was possible at any prayer service, with this wording, to discover the forced withdrawal of money. You gather, pray for some deliberate reason, and people donate to you, which means you are taking money from them. The same applies to payment for demands.

It was enough for a parishioner not to agree with the priest on the price for baptism or funeral service, and he could quite calmly, referring to this law, turn to government authorities and say that the priest was extorting money from him.

No church religious societies have the right to own property. They do not have the rights of a legal entity.

We had this system until 1989. Notice the word “none.” Before the revolution, parishes did not have the rights of legal personality and property rights, but other church institutions could have these rights, but here all this is abolished.

All property of church religious societies existing in Russia is declared national property. Buildings and objects intended specifically for liturgical purposes are given, according to special regulations of local and central government authorities, for the free use of the relevant religious societies.

Even what has not yet been practically confiscated is no longer church property. There had to be an inventory of everything that the Church has, and local authorities could then, in some cases, leave something for the Church for now, and take something away right away.

The Church’s reluctance to give something away was seen as resistance to the implementation of the all-Russian law, no matter how the Church acquired this property. All this is immediately state property and is doomed to confiscation.

This was the decree on freedom of conscience.

On August 24, 1918, instructions for the decree appeared, which provided for specific measures for its implementation. This instruction stated that in the parish, responsibility for everything rests with a group of lay people of 20 people. This is how the “twenties” appeared, and it was a completely thought-out measure. The power of the rector, the power of the priest in the parish was undermined, and, moreover, he was placed under the control of the laity, this twenty, because they were responsible for any actions of the clergyman that the authorities might not like, and thus were forced to somehow control him. Naturally, it was much easier to influence a group of lay people than a priest. One layman could be called and told that he would be deprived of his card if he did not do what was needed, another could be deprived of firewood, and a third could be sent to forced labor.

Shifting responsibility to the twenty already in the summer of 1918 implied division within the parish, pitting the rector against the laity and influencing parish life through these same laity, which, of course, could include people associated with the authorities.

On July 10, 1918, the first Soviet constitution, in its 65th article, declared the clergy and monastics to be non-working elements deprived of voting rights, and their children, as children of “disenfranchised”, were deprived, for example, of the right to enter higher educational institutions. That is, already the first workers' and peasants' constitution placed some social groups, including the clergy, in the category of people without rights. And this is at the level of the highest government authorities.
Part 15. On strengthening scientific and atheistic propaganda among young people (1959)
Part 16. The story of Archpriest Nikolai Ivanov “An Incident on the Street”
Part 17. Features of pastoral service in the Russian Orthodox Church under the dominance of atheistic ideology

Author: Ilya Novikov
Our local Yegor Kuzmich knew the history of our village very well. And on the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, July 21, many listeners from our and neighboring villages gathered for another lecture in the reading room of the library, which miraculously survived the collapse of the Soviet Union

Author: Abbot Tikhon (Polyansky)
Among many corners great Russia now the Klin land is also glorified by confessors of faith. Now it is not possible to tell in detail about all of her ascetics. Compiling the canonical lives of saints, collecting memories and testimonies is a matter of the near future. In the meantime, the news is scanty and fragmentary; in materials for the canonization of new martyrs, short biographical dossiers are usually published, based on documents from the investigative case. Sometimes it is difficult to even find photographs; there is only prison photo made before the execution. The interrogation protocols themselves do not always reflect the true words of the holy martyrs, since the goal was to “make the testimonies of those arrested fit into the article.”

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Until 1917 in Russia, the church walked hand in hand with the state, although it was in a subordinate position to it. Such orders were introduced by Peter I, who abolished the Patriarchate and established the Holy Governing Synod - the highest legislative, administrative and judicial authority of the Russian Orthodox Church.

At the same time, in the personal documents of subjects Russian Empire their religion was indicated. They did not always reflect people’s real religious beliefs, and it was only possible to change one’s religion without hindrance only when converting from another confession to Orthodoxy. Only in 1905 was the decree “On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance” issued, which somewhat improved the situation.

In July 1917, the Provisional Government issued the Law “On Freedom of Conscience,” which regulated the freedom of religious self-determination of a person upon reaching 14 years of age. This caused protests from the Synod.

Also, with the coming to power of the Provisional Government, the All-Russian local cathedral discussed the issue of restoring the patriarchate. Not all of its participants supported this decision. However, after October revolution and the Bolsheviks came to power, the disputes ceased and it was decided to restore the patriarchate. Saint Tikhon was elected Patriarch in November 1917.

By that time, clashes between the church and the Soviet government had already begun. In October, the “Decree on Land” was issued, according to which land was no longer private property and was transferred for the use of “all workers on it.” This included all church and monastery lands “with all their living and dead inventory, manor buildings and all accessories.” In December the Law of God in educational institutions was transferred from compulsory subjects to electives. Funding for religious educational institutions was stopped.

Finally, all educational institutions of the ecclesiastical department, along with all their property, were transferred to the Commissariat.

Family law has also undergone changes. In December 1917, the decrees “On the dissolution of marriage” and “On civil marriage, on children and on maintaining books of deeds” appeared, depriving church marriage of legal force.

In January 1918, the churches of the court department were closed. A decree was issued abolishing the court clergy. The premises and property of the court churches were confiscated, but services were allowed to be held in them. Others were subsequently confiscated church property, in particular, printing houses and army property.

During this period, Patriarch Tikhon issued an appeal that read:

“Come to your senses, madmen, stop your bloody reprisals. After all, what you are doing is not only a cruel deed, it is truly a satanic deed, for which you are subject to the fire of Gehenna in the future life - the afterlife and the terrible curse of posterity in this earthly life... Persecution has been raised against the truth of Christ by obvious and secret enemies of this truth they strive to destroy the work of Christ, and instead of Christian love they sow seeds of malice, hatred and fratricidal warfare everywhere.”

On February 2, 1918, the “Decree on the separation of church from state and school from church” was adopted. It came into force on February 5, when it was published in the “Newspaper of the Workers' and Peasants' Government”.

“The Church is separated from the state,” read the first paragraph of the decree.

The rest noted that “every citizen may profess any religion or no religion” and prohibited “the making of any local laws or regulations that would restrict or restrict freedom of conscience, or establish any advantages or privileges on the basis of religious belief.” belonging to citizens."

Religious views were no longer a reason for avoiding civic duties. Religious rituals associated with the actions of “state and other public legal institutions” were abolished.

In addition, the decree prohibited teaching religious doctrines in educational institutions - now this could only be done privately. Extortions in favor of church and religious communities were also prohibited. They were also now deprived of property rights and had no rights of legal personality. All property of church and religious communities was declared public property.

Church representatives viewed the ongoing reforms as “a malicious attack on the entire system of life.” Orthodox Church and an act of open persecution against her.”

"Conciliar resolution regarding the decree of the council people's commissars on the separation of the Church from the state,” issued after the decree came into force, read: “Any participation both in the publication of this legalization hostile to the Church and in attempts to implement it is incompatible with belonging to the Orthodox Church and brings punishment on the guilty, up to and including excommunication. Churches".

Patriarch Tikhon called on the people: “oppose the enemies of the church... with the power of faith of your nation-wide cry, which will stop the madmen.”

Processions of the cross were held in cities. In general, they were quite peaceful, but several times there were clashes with the authorities, accompanied by bloodshed.

The provisions of the decree were systematically supplemented by new orders - for example, on the abolition of the positions of teachers of all religions. Also in February, a decree was issued stating that “the teaching of religious doctrines in all state and public, as well as private educational institutions run by the People’s Commissariat for Education, and the performance of any religious rites within the walls of the school are not allowed.”

In the summer, it was ordered to close all religious educational institutions, including private ones, and transfer their buildings to local authorities. However, adult citizens had the right to attend theological courses. Thus, educational sphere was now completely under the control of the state.

The decree laid the foundations for atheistic education in the USSR.

Active confiscation of church property began almost immediately after the decree was adopted. Closer to autumn, the People's Commissariat of Justice issued additional instructions, ordering the confiscation of all funds located “in the cash registers of local churches and houses of worship, from church elders, treasurers, parish councils and groups, from rectors of churches, from deans, from diocesan and district supervisors of parochial schools, former ecclesiastical consistories, in capital diocesan bishops, in the Synod, in the Supreme church council, in the so-called “patriarchal treasury”.

The temples themselves and props for religious ceremonies could be transferred for use to religious communities on the basis of a special agreement.

Subsequently, Soviet legislation continued to separate atheists from believers. If in 1918 the Constitution of the RSFSR guaranteed “freedom of religious propaganda,” then later this phrase changed to “freedom of religion,” and then simply to “freedom of religious worship.”

The decree was canceled on October 25, 1990. Current provisions legislation Russian Federation they say that

“The Russian Federation is a secular state. No religion can be established as a state or compulsory" and " Religious associations separated from the state and equal before the law.”

Also, modern legislation gives religious organizations the opportunity to create a legal entity and ownership rights.