Persecuting Orthodoxy in the Soviet Union as an Attempt of Destroying the Russia’s Eurasian Mission: An Example of Grigory Dolya and St Transfiguration Temple in Lednoe

Abstract

In 1920s there was a split in Russian Orthodoxy initiated by the Soviet government. Traditionalists and “renovationists” appeared, with the latter being artificially created with Bolsheviks’ approval to undermine the Eurasian role of the former Russian Empire. Traditionalists who became supporters of newly elected Patriarch Tikhon were severely persecuted by Soviet officials. In the paper, I study the crisis of Russia’s Eurasian mission with example of priest Grigory Dolya, Dean of St Transfiguration Temple in Lednoe, Kharkov, Ukraine, who is currently being considered to be glorified as a new Orthodox saint martyr by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.