The Russian Orthodox Church in the millennium year: What it needs from the Soviet state

Abstract

The Moscow Patriarchate has made lavish plans to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of the baptism of Kievan Rus' by Prince Vladimir. In July 1987 the Patriarchate opened an information centre where Soviet and foreign journalists could be briefed on the preparations for the and receive literature on the position of religion in the USSR. 1 By now the church will have held its local council (Sobor) at the Trinity-St Sergius Lavra in Zagorsk (6-9 June), only the fourth such council in the entire Soviet period (the previous Sobory had been convoked in 1917-18, 1945 and 1971, and on each occasion a new patriarch of the Russian Church had been elected). The main ceremony to mark the millennium will have taken place on 10 June at the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Moscow's Danilov Monastery. Ceremonies have also been planned for Kiev, Leningrad, Minsk and Vladimir, to be attended by delegates to the council as well as by visitors from abroad. Special worship services have been scheduled in all dioceses and parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate. 2 To the untrained Western eye, all of this suggests that religious life is flourishing in the Soviet Union. But unfortunately, appearances can be deceptive. The true status of the Russian Orthodox Church today can be understood only after one has become aware of the legal framework within which the Russian Church must lead its existence. In this context, it is instructive to look at how the state-controlled Soviet press is covering the millennium what are Soviet citizens being told about the event? --:and to com.pare what the press says with the arguments advanced in a number of recent samizdat statements by Orthodox believers.