«We believed in God and Communism at the same time»: the phenomenon of «Soviet believers» in the USSR of the 1940s — 1980s

Abstract

The work is devoted to the problem of interaction and complementarity of Orthodox and Soviet values in the spiritual life of USSR citizens in the 1940s — 1980s. Relying on extensive archival materials from the funds of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church / Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, as well as the results of his own field research, the author analyzes the unique phenomenon of «combining the incompatible»: simultaneous self-identification as «Soviet» and «Orthodox» by significant part of the population of the country.

The paper examines the rhetoric of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, who pointed out the existence of values and tasks common to Orthodox believers and the Soviet state; characterizes the activities of Orthodox parishes included in the «socialist creation»; analyzes the judgments of elderly believers (formerly citizens of the USSR) about the possibility of combining Christian and communist ideals.

It is shown that the softening of state policy towards the church, which took place in the 1940s, stimulated church leaders and ordinary believers to search for ways to satisfactorily combine the Orthodox worldview and dominating in public life Soviet norms. On the one hand, this search was based on the awareness of the need to integrate the Church and believers into Soviet society and acted as a strategy for preserving Orthodox culture. On the other hand, it reflected the sincere desire of citizens who had been socialized in Soviet society to reconcile traditional confessional and new civic values in their own minds. The paper demonstrates that ordinary believers often did not see an insurmountable contradiction in the concepts of «Soviet» and «Orthodox». The formed Soviet identity and active participation in communist rituals did not exclude Christian self-identification for the citizens of the USSR. The work also provides examples of Christian understanding of the historical mission of the Communist Party on the part of believers who lived in the USSR.