ABSTRACT

In Soviet days, the Russian Orthodox Church experienced continual repression in one form or another. The repression was most brutal in the 1920s and 1930s, when many priests were killed or imprisoned, monasteries and seminaries were closed, and many churches were destroyed. In Soviet times, the Church was formally separated from the state, but this separation worked only in one direction. The Church had no support from the state, but for its part the state actively intruded in Church life and collected huge taxes. Priests and bishops had to be approved by the authorities. Ideally, the church would like to be a source of a moral authority for the people, while preserving its independence from the state. However, in every century the Church has had to adapt its tradition to that specific era. Thus the Church found itself in a dramatically new situation in the late 1980s and early 1990s.