Samara diocese of the Russian orthodox church in 1917–1941 

Vadim N. Yakunin, Doctor of historical sciences, professor, professor of the sub-department of humanities and social and economic disciplines, Moscow Art and Industry Institute (building 3, 9/23 2nd Baumanskaya street, Moscow, Russia), vadyak@mail.ru

Background. Arrests and executions of the clergy and believers, schisms and intra-church disorders, mass closing of churches – all these measures carried out by the Soviet government after 1917, painfully affected both the Orthodox Church in the Samara diocese, and the clergy and believers and influenced its subsequent development in an athe-istic state. The purpose of the article is to investigate the situation and activities of the Sa-mara diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in 1917–1941, to identify the nature of changes in the organizational structure in the diocese. Materials and methods. Corpus of sources on the study of the position and activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1917–1941. formed the documentation of the Central State Archive of the Samara Region, the newspapers “Kommuna” and “Volzhskaya komunna”, “Zhurnal Moskovskoy Patriarkhii” for 1931–1935. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, objec-tivity, and a systematic approach to considering the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the life of Soviet society. The methodological potential includes: a comparative-historical method, the application of which allows us to compare the nature of changes in the organi-zational structure in the diocese of the pre-revolutionary period and the period we are con-sidering; statistical method, the significance of which is obvious for the analysis of data related to changes in the number of churches and the number of clergy in 1917–1941. Re-sults. The October Revolution radically changed the church and religious life of the Samara diocese for more than seven decades. The consequences of the revolution hit the Church so painfully partly because it was a state institution, associated with the state and its policies, and when the former state system was swept away, the Church was swept away with it. Thus, the state Church became a kind of hostage to the system overthrown by the revolution. The second reason for the irreconcilable anti-religious policy of the new government was its atheistic ideology. And, finally, the Soviet government did not fail to take advantage of the circumstances to nationalize church property and property. As a result, out of more than 1000 churches that operated in the Samara province before the revolution, by 1938 only 3 churches were functioning. Particular attention in the article is paid to the activities of the ruling bishops, clergy, believers to preserve the diocese during the years of revolutionary and post-revolutionary persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church. Conclusions. Arrests and executions of the clergy, schisms and intra-church disturbances, mass closure of churches – all these measures taken by the authorities had a very painful effect on the Orthodox Church, all believers, but could not achieve the main goal of atheists – the Orthodox people, for the most part, did not renounce the faith, preserved and saved her. For 20 post-revolutionary years, the Russian Orthodox Church in the Samara province was brought to the brink of destruction: almost all churches, all monasteries were closed, the clergy were destroyed or repressed, and its remaining part was forced to wander, beg for alms, engage in illegal fulfillment of trebs and various part-time jobs, sometimes humiliating. The Church itself was divided; in the Samara diocese, the Renovationist schism, supported by the authorities, caused the most severe consequences for religious life. The believers themselves were subjected to ridicule, humiliation, bullying, in Soviet Russia they were unofficially considered second-class people, due to their “limitedness” who did not want to renounce their religious views. Desperate to destroy “religious prejudices” and faced with the problem of the catacomb church, which was difficult to control, the authorities, with the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, “permitted” the Church, leaving their control to it.

Samara diocese, temples, churches, monasteries, clergy, bishops, episcopal chair, prayer services, spirituality

Yakunin V.N. Samara diocese of the Russian orthodox church in 1917–1941. Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniy. Povolzhskiy region. Gumanitarnye nauki = University proceedings. Volga region. Humanities. 2022;(4):62–78. (In Russ.). doi:10.21685/2072-3024-2022-4-4