«Контрреволюціонери в рясі»: як знищували духовенство в радянській Україні (1932–1933 рр.).

Abstract

In the article, the author attempts to analyse the methods of extermination of the clergy in the territory of Soviet Ukraine within the anti-religious policy of the Soviet government during 1932– 1933. The methodological background consists of general scientific and historical cognitive methods such as analysis, synthesis, benchmarking, bibliographic heuristics, descriptive, as well as chronological methods. In the article, the principles of historicism, objectivity and consistency are used.The coming to power of the Bolsheviks led to dramatic changes in the status of religious communities. The authorities were destroying the church as a social institution. During the aggravation of social relations, which were established at the beginning of the collectivization in 1928, and the struggle against the kulaks as a class, the church and its clergy were considered as adherents of the kulaks and counter-revolutionaries. Accordingly, priests should have been completely eradicated and denied the opportunity to influence their believers. The religious life of Ukraine in 1920– 1930 was on the verge of its termination. Under those conditions, following the Christian traditions has given society the strength to survive in the framework of a global political experiment initiated by the Soviet Union’s top leadership.The authorities used different methods to eliminate the clergy. In particular, algorithms for administrative and economic pressure on the church, which arose in excessive monetary and natural taxes and was overestimated by the real income of priests, are identified. The main arguments regarding the arrests and exile allegations are characterised. It is established that the image of a counter-revolutionary enemy, which was successfully used even during the famine years, was not successful.The topic of the research requires further study, in particular, the role and place of organized religiousness in Ukrainian society, as well as the nature of church transformations in the context of the Holodomor needs to be identified.