Seizure of church property in Ukraine according to periodicals of 1921 – 1923

Abstract

A historical analysis of the seizure of church property in Ukraine on the pages of periodicals of this period. The Soviet anti-religious policy of confiscating church property in the fight against hunger as a consequence of influencing the consciousness of the population through the prism of the Soviet and Lviv press is studied. Forms and methods of church confiscation are revealed, damages to churches and national culture of Ukraine are calculated. The Soviet press of 1921-1923 has an important historical significance, because it is with the help of these historical materials that one can explore a rather interesting, but at the same time tragic period in the history of the Orthodox Churches.The analysis of the press of that time gives an opportunity to find out what were the reasons and methods of confiscation of church values. It was investigated and established from the press that the Soviet authorities mass confiscated church property and conducted a census of property. Under the influence of famine, the Soviet government could do anything with the churches and their values, confiscating all church property en masse. After analyzing the periodicals of 1921-1923, there was not a single line of the newspaper that did not mention the seizure of church property.