The Russian Orthodox Church Flashcards
An alternative ideology to Marxism is
A threat to the imposition of socialist iegology
What element of Christianity conflicted with the collective mentality of socialism?
Emphasis on the rights of the individual
The Bolsheviks were ATHIESTS. To them religion was just
Superstitious nonsense
Lenin’s personal hatred for _________ informed the PACE and TONE of Bolshevik policy
Priests
How was the Royal Orthodox Church tied closely to the old order?
Tsar was it’s old head (appointments within made only with his approval —> support purposes of state)
Majority of the population took the world of their spiritual leader seriously.
It was a big task to destroy the influence of the church and indeed of religion, but there was to be no ___________ other than communism
Also, the concern that the power and influence of the Royal Orthodox Church as an instrument of social control posed a threat to ___________ and _____________
Opium of the masses
Government control
Socialist values
Why was the Royal Orthodox Church not a supporter of the new regime?
Owned land- same interest as landed classes
Conservative
The church had a hold over the _______ population that was useful.
Rural
When was the phrase “Opium of the masses” first used? By who(m)?
1843
Marx
Explain the phrase “Opium of the masses”, according to Marx.
Religion was used by the ruling classes to COTROL the population
It gave people an artificial sense of happiness by DISTRACTING them from their sufferings
REAL HAPPINESS can only be achieved if religion is abolished
(The government had to use propaganda, however, to get people to discover this)
When was Decree on Freedom of Conscience?
2/2/1918
What did the Decree on the Freedom of Conscience do?
- SEPARATED Orthodox Church from state & it lost its privileged status
- DEPRIVED roc of LAND without compensation
- PUBLICATIONS OUTLAWED, all RE outside home banned
By the end of 1918, which church figure was under house arrest?
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church—
Patriarch Tikhon
What happened to a large number of churches under Lenin?
They were destroyed, or converted to other purposes
What did Lenin do to monasteries?
Closed them all
During the Civil War famine, what happened to religion?
- Attacks on Church increased
- Valuable objects seized to pay for goods
- PRIESTS: deprived of vote/ denied rations/ victims of Red Terror
- by 1923, 28 bishops and over 1,000 priests killed
By 1923, how many
a) priests
b) bishops
Had been killed?
Over 1,000
28
When was the Red Terror?
1921-22
Name two things priests were deprived of during the civil war, and one thing they were victim to
Vote
Rations
Red Terror
When was the League of the Militant Godless established?
1929
What events did the League of the Militant Godless used to disprove god (as part of the Bolshevik’s propaganda campaign against religion)?
Took peasants in plane rides to show them heaven didn’t exist in the sky
Ridiculed weeping icons— showed how they could be made to operate with rubber squeezers
Lenin _____ religious rituals.
What did a campaign aim to replace baptisms with?
Attacked
“Octoberings”
New names encouraged by Bolsheviks
Ninel
Revolyutsia
What did the scale of Lenin’s attack’s result in some church leaders doing?
Seek accommodation with state
When did Patriarch Tikhon die?
1925
Patriarch Tikhon’s death —>
a) which figure (very/second most important in the Russian Orthodox Church)
b) called on church members to do what?
Metropolitan Sergei of Moscow
Support the government
The accommodation with the state that the religious policies of Lenin drove (although MOST refused) set a new tone.
This tone resulted in?
Less strident attacks by the government.
End of the 1930s. What fraction of all village churches were not operating or destroyed?
4/5
The Bolsheviks managed to restrict the church, but they couldn’t
Stamp out it’s influence
Mid 1920s survey of peasantry found that
55% were still active Christians
