How did the Orthodox survive Communism?

[JesuXPIPassio]

Communists were decidedly atheistic and sought to exterminate all religion in its territory. How, then, did the Orthodox Churches in the then-Soviet areas survive? The Russians in particular would have been in the centre of it all.

Was it just by keeping itself underground? That doesn’t seem to hold up that well as a theory, because if the Russian Orthodox Church really had to be pushed underground, it’s hard to comprehend how it could be so prominent today, less than 20 years after the Soviet Union collapsed.

 

[ralphinal]

This is a very complicated question.

First, the Soviets never really tried to totally destroy the church. They did make HUGE efforts to smash it, but they wanted to keep it around in a level that could be used to control the people. The problem is that the church did not really cooperate. So, you still had some chuch in the open. Now, they put big limits on it, and that was difficult.

The parts that were underground thrived. People are very good had preserving the faith when God helps.

THe fact that it has come back so strong is partially due to the people of Russia, more because of God.

 

[RobHom]

Here is some information in a nutshell that explains how they “survived”… Even Stalin knew he needed that Church to help…
**For Bolsheviks who came to power in 1917 the Russian Orthodox Church was an ideological enemy a priori, as being an institutional part of tsarist Russia it resolutely defended the old regime also after the October revolution. This is why so many bishops, thousands of clergymen, monks and nuns as well as lay people were subjected to repression up to execution and murder striking in its brutality.

When in 1921-1922 the Soviet government demanded that church valuables be given in aid to the population starving because of the failure of crops in 1921, a fateful conflict erupted between the Church and the new authorities who decided to use this situation to demolish the Church to the end. By the beginning of World War II the church structure was almost completely destroyed throughout the country. There were only a few bishops who remained free and who could perform their duties. Some bishops managed to survive in remote parts or under the disguise of priests. Only a few hundred churches were opened for services throughout the Soviet Union. Most of the clergy were either imprisoned in concentration camps where many of them perished or hid in catacombs, while thousands of priests changed occupation.

The catastrophic course of combat in the beginning of World War II forced Stalin to mobilize all the national resources for defense, including the Russian Orthodox Church as the people’s moral force. Without delay churches were opened for services, and clergy including bishops were released from prisons. The Russian Church did not limit itself to giving spiritual and moral support to the motherland in danger. It also rendered material aid by providing funds for all kinds of things up to army uniform. Its greatest contribution, however, was expressed in financing the St. Dimitry Donskoy Tank Column and the St. Alexander Nevsky Squadron.

This process, which can be described as a rapprochement between Church and state in a “patriotic union”, culminated in Stalin’s receiving on September 4, 1943 Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergiy Stragorodsky and Metropolitan Alexy Simansky and Nikolay Yarushevich.

Since that historic moment a “thaw” began in relations between church and state. The Church, however, remained always under state control and any attempts to spread its work outside its walls were met with a strong rebuff including administrative sanctions.

The Russian Orthodox Church was in a hard situation during the so called 'Khrushchev’s thaw" as well when thousands of churches throughout the Soviet Union were closed “for ideological reasons”.

The celebrations devoted to the Millennium of the Baptism of Russia, which acquired a national importance, gave a fresh impetus to church-state relations and compelled the powers that be to begin a dialogue with the Church, building these relations on the basis of recognition of the great historical role it had played in the fortunes of the Motherland and its contribution to the formation of the nation’s moral traditions.

**

russian-crafts.com/customs/russian-church-history.html

 

[StMarina303ad]

Communists were decidedly atheistic and sought to exterminate all religion in its territory. How, then, did the Orthodox Churches in the then-Soviet areas survive?

Through the Power of the Holy Spirit.

The Russians in particular would have been in the centre of it all.

Was it just by keeping itself underground?

Most of it was underground.

That doesn’t seem to hold up that well as a theory, because if the Russian Orthodox Church really had to be pushed underground, it’s hard to comprehend how it could be so prominent today, less than 20 years after the Soviet Union collapsed. That’s the Holy Spirit at work. Underground in this case does not mean dead. It means that the Grandmothers taught the Orthodox Faith to their family in secret and when, on a rare occasion, a priest was able to their would be a Divine Liturgy held in secret with the prayers, which were once and are again sung loudly, sung in a quiet whisper so as to not be caught.

We have 3 Russian Orthodox Churches operating in the United States today because of what Communism did to the Church in Russia. Some survived by going completely underground and some hung on with the Patriarch of Moscow which are why there are 3 valid Russian Orthodox Churches. They will, at some point in the future, reunite under the Patriarch of Moscow, but it will take time to heal the wounds of Communism.

 

[bpbasilphx]

Some survived by going completely underground and some hung on with the Patriarch of Moscow which are why there are 3 valid Russian Orthodox Churches. They will, at some point in the future, reunite under the Patriarch of Moscow, but it will take time to heal the wounds of Communism.

**I think the OCA (Orthodox Church in America) is likely to remain in its present statu quo, but has still been in communion with the Patriarchate since 1970.

I’m glad the Synod (aka Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) and the Patriarchate are in communion again.**

 

[StMarina303ad]

Some survived by going completely underground and some hung on with the Patriarch of Moscow which are why there are 3 valid Russian Orthodox Churches. They will, at some point in the future, reunite under the Patriarch of Moscow, but it will take time to heal the wounds of Communism.

**I think the OCA (Orthodox Church in America) is likely to remain in its present statu quo, but has still been in communion with the Patriarchate since 1970.

I’m glad the Synod (aka Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) and the Patriarchate are in communion again.**

I’m behind the times! How exciting…glad they are already reunited. Now there is just one more Russian Church to reunited with them as well. I can’t remember the exact name something like the Autocephalus Russian Orthodox Church or Russian Autocephalus Orthodox Church. I visited their Church in Stanton, VA years ago. The Church was held in their home. I was referred there by the Dormition Skete in Buena Vista, CO. It was very nice although they were much more strict…“we know that we are part of the Orthodox Church, but we don’t know about ROCOR - so we don’t make judgements about whether or not they are Orthodox - it’s not our business to figure out what Churches are and aren’t Orthodox, but it is our business to practice our Orthodox Faith”.

OCA - although it clearly started from Missionaries from Russian, I see it as an American Church and don’t equate it with the Russian Church. Maybe because the one I visited, I think in Jackson, CA called Elevation of the Holy Cross, only has American priests, deacons and parishoners. Now that I think about it, there was one older women who may have been from Russia or some other country. She spoke with an accent and told me how she will never go to Confession again because when she was little a priest forced her to Confess all the sins of the 10 Commandments, even those she’d never done, so she felt her Confession was completed and then some. She was cute…but dead serious.