Implementation of repressive measures against the clergy in the territory of Chuvashia in the 1920s–1930s.

Abstract

This article examines the implementation of the repressive policy of the Soviet government in the 20–30 years of the last century. The events of this period are among the most tragic in the history of the Church, and in our time the active study of archival materials of the events of those tragic years continues. The article examines the legislative acts of the central and local Soviet authorities aimed at worsening the social status of the clergy and provides examples from archival data. The Bolshevik government used all possible range of repressive pressure on the Orthodox Church: political, economic and even physical destruction, tried to split the internal unity of the Church by creating and actively supporting the Renovationist movement. Taking into account the ethnocultural peculiarities of the region, legislative acts, printed propaganda materials were published in Russian and Chuvash. The persecution of the clergy on the territory of Chuvashia had both common features and their own peculiarities. For us who live in a relatively quiet time, the relevance is not only a scientific approach to events, but also the study of the lives of the clergy who lived during periods of state terror and preserved the most important thing for every Christian — faith in God.