Orthodox Priest Research Articles

Строительство Александро-Невской церкви в городе Петрозаводске в XIX в. как пример обращения старообрядцев в православие

This paper explores conversion into Christianity of Old Believers, who were working at the Aleksandrovsky factory in the city of Petrozavodsk in the 19th century, and were heavily influenced by members of the religious commune of the Vygovskaya monastery. The Aleksandrovsky cannon factory was an important strategic object for the Russian Empire. This is why the Old Believers working there were not repressed, but subjected to ideological re-education. One of the measures of the latter was the construction of the Church of Alexander Nevsky in 1826–1832 in Petrozavodsk. The study of the culture of local Old Believers and their relations with the Russian authority and Orthodox Church based on the academic works of N. A. Basova, V. V. Efimova, N. Y. Kuznetsova, M. V. Pulkin, I. N. Ruzhinskaya and T. V. Sorokina. The description of religious, ideological and aesthetic aspects of the Church’s architecture drew on an article by K. E. Tyukova and archive documents published in featured compilations by the National Archive of the Republic of Karelia, as well other archive materials academically introduced by the author of the article. Their interpreting was in keeping with the context of semiotic approach designed by Y. M. Lotman and B. A. Uspensky. The researchers homologated the notions of culture and text; they suggested viewing Russian culture of the Empire period as an area of interaction between two traditions: Russian Orthdox culture and imperial culture founded by Peter I. The scholars established that interaction between these two was happening in the process of interpretation of every cultural opposition of “ours” and “theirs”, where “ours” was defined through contraposing it against “theirs”. The present paper is the first to study the construction of the Church of Alexander Nevsky in Petrozavodsk as a textual activity of the authority aimed at converting the Old Believers working at the Aleksandrovsky factory into Christianity, and the image of the church itself as a cultural text that reflected the concepts, values and narratives of the first trimester of the 19th century. The author came to a number of conclusions. The semiotic analysis or rites performed by Orthodox priests in the process of the construction of the church, and actions taken by the administration of the cannon factory, showed that a new semiotic system had been formed amongst the Old Believers working at the factory. The focus of that system of symbols was the idea of the empire. A number of religious and state symbols had been incorporated into the design of the temple and the temple activities, which transferred the image of the holy Alexander Nevsky onto the image of Emperor of Alexander the First. The transformation of the culture of Old Believer factory workers was being performed by the authorities on the basis of the cultural code of the times of Peter the Great, where “ours” was the idea of the empire, and the contraposed “theirs” was Old Belief. Discrepancy between the two radical members of the opposition would be alleviated by homologating the Old Believers idea of revering the spiritual guide with the idea of deification of the Emperor.

Orthodox Priests in the Partisan Movement during the Great Patriotic War

Orthodox Priests in the Partisan Movement during the Great Patriotic War

Orthodox priest in the Soviet Belarusian society (1944-1964)

Orthodox priest in the Soviet Belarusian society (1944-1964)

«Старания, о добровольном распространении Евангельского учения …»: миссионерская деятельность в политике российских властей на Северном Кавказе (1793–1817 гг.)

The missionary activity of the Greek Church played an important role in appeasing the peoples of the North Caucasus. It was supposed to restore among them those spiritual values that their ancestors had previously professed. For this purpose, in 1793, the post of vicar bishop of the Astrakhan diocese was established in Mozdok. This made it possible to quickly resolve issues related to the spread of the Christian faith here. Very soon Mozdok became one of the leading religious centers of the region. But the authorities had many complaints about the missionary work itself: the number of converts to the new faith did not meet expectations, and the sincerity of the neophytes’ beliefs raised serious doubts. Emperor Paul I, who replaced Catherine II on the throne, ordered the abolition of the vicariate. Nevertheless, the very idea of preaching Orthodoxy in the mountain environment was preserved and had many supporters. The question of restoring the Ossetian Commission, with the help of which it was supposed to o influence the confessional situation in the region, arose again. Projects to attract foreign missionaries for missionary work in the mountain environment arose and were tested. But the main role was assigned to Orthodox priests, for whose successful work the treasury was ready to allocate the necessary funds. The activities of the church in this case should not have contradicted the steps of the secular authorities. With the appointment of A.P. Yermolov to the Caucasus, the militarypolitical situation in the region is becoming more complicated, which marked a new stage in the missionary practice of the Orthodox clergy.

Ускладнення міжконфесійних взаємовідносин на Волині напередодні та під час Першої світової війни

The purpose of the article is to study the role of the Orthodox clergy in the aggravation of inter-confessional relations in Volyn at the beginning of the 20th century. The authors have researched archival documents and periodical press materials of the researched period, which highlight the key directions of the causes and consequences of the inter-confessional confrontation in Volyn, the role of the Russian Orthodox Church, authorities and the Pochaiv branch of the Union of the Russian People in this. The research methodology is based on the use of general scientific research methods (analysis, synthesis and generalization) and special historical (comparative-historical and chronological) methods, which, in combination with the principles of objectivity, historicism and multifactoriality, created the necessary conditions for impartial coverage of the tasks. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that the authors, on the basis of archival documents and materials from the periodical press, found out the role of the Orthodox clergy, the imperial authorities and the Black Hundreds in the aggravation of inter-religious relations in Volyn in the period under study. Conclusions. After Emperor Nicholas II signed the manifesto on April 17, 1905, conditions were created for the transition of Orthodox to other denominations. Taking into account the peculiarities of the ethno-national composition of the population of the Volyn province, these processes have gained significant momentum in it. The Orthodox clergy, together with the Black Hundreds, who played an important role in the political life of the region, did everything possible to discredit representatives of other faiths in the eyes of the general population. However, despite this position, the number of Protestants and Roman Catholics in Volyn steadily increased. This was caused not so much by the propaganda of their beliefs among the inhabitants of the region, by mixed marriages, but primarily by those negative processes that took place among the Orthodox clergy, primarily Orthodox priests. The events of the First World War were used by the Orthodox clergy to intensify their attacks on Protestant communities, unjustifiably accusing them of ties to Germany, which further aggravated inter-religious relations. Conducting anti-Protestant and anti-Catholic courses not only with the participation of zealots of the Union of the Russian People, «allies», priests, but also teachers of the Law of God in primary schools, testified to an attempt to create a new round of confrontation between representatives of different faiths

Нормация священника в России Нового времени: генезис процесса и основные этапы

This article examines the problem of the development of the narrative about the norm in relation to the priest, using the example of the context of the modern Rus­sia. The concept of the norm is key for the modern state and society that is emerg­ing in the modern era, and despite the fact that this concept itself is not found in domestic sources, the value of the corresponding concept has been consis­tently growing since the 17th century. The author proposes to see the genesis of the process of normation of the Orthodox priest in the era that followed the Schism, when for the first time a functional reading of the liturgical activity of the clergy is revealed as an activity capable to ensure the piety of the people. The discovery of the priest as the subject of normation activates the development of discursive resources capable of supporting this process. At the first stage, it is a collective concept of the clergy, allowing to fix the subject of the norm itself. The hitch of the figure of a priest with the key modern ethical concept – “duty” – expands the possibilities for developing a norm. Finally, the discipline of “pas­toral theology”, which undergoes the swift development in the second half of the 19th century, becomes the predominant “place” for the normation of the priest – a process that reached its apex during the counter-reforms of Alexander III.

Srpsko sokolsko društvo u Pensilvaniji (Stilton)

Serbian Sokol Societies were based on the idea of a new form of physical exercise originated in the Czech lands in the second half of the 19th century. After first initiatives, this idea soon spread to all Slavic as also countries where Slavic nations lived. That is how since 1907 this way of physical exercise appeared among Serbs who lived in America (USA). The Sokol idea in state of Pennsylvania started by the local Serbs in Steelton in the middle of 1912, when, following the initiative of the orthodox priest Teofil H. Stefanovic, they founded the Serbian Sokol Society. The subject of this research is Serbian Sokolism in America (USA) with the aim to explore when this society was founded, who took part in those and other activities until June 1914. During research authors used historical method.

«Астраханские епархиальные ведомости» как источник по истории православной миссии в Калмыцкой степи в начале XX в.

Introduction. The Journal of Astrakhan Eparchy (Russ. Astrakhanskie eparkhialnye vedomosti) was the official periodical of Astrakhan and Yenotayevka Eparchy in 1875 to 1918. Quite a share of the published articles dealt with household life, customs, religion of the Kalmyks, and dissemination of Christianity in Kalmyk Steppe. Goals. The study aims to identify, analyze, investigate and introduce materials contained in journal issues and covering the actual state and directions for further development of Russian missionary activity in early 20th century Kalmyk Steppe. Materials and methods. So, the paper analyzes journal issues published between 1900 and 1918. Results. A total of seventeen related articles authored by clerics of Astrakhan and Yenotayevka Eparchy were studied. The publications cluster into five groups as follows: messages on Kalmyk converts, analytical reports on Russian missionary activity in Kalmyk Steppe, religious dispute between Orthodox priest and Lama, articles on the history of Orthodox Mission in Kalmyk Steppe, reports on visits to missionary centers paid by Astrakhan Governor and Bishop. The work also evaluates the significance of the examined materials for historiography of Russian missionary activities in Kalmyk Steppe at the beginning of the 20th century. Conclusions. The importance of the examined materials on the history and development of Orthodox Christian Mission in Kalmyk Steppe is determined by that their authors — Orthodox priests — were direct participants of missionary activities proper and often used archival materials that never survived to the present. Objective analyses of the Mission’s successes and problems by authors of publications makes it possible to supplement the existing set of sources on the history of Orthodox Christianity in Kalmyk Steppe.

Aggravation of interfaith relations in the Belarusian provinces of the Russian Empire (late 19th – early 20th century) in the light of archival documents

The article analyzes various aspects of the relationship between the largest confessional groups of the Belarusian provinces of the Russian Empire (Orthodox and Catholics) in the late 19th – early 20th centuries in the context of the implementation of the models of self-identification «our – other» and «our – alien». Particular attention is paid to the characteristics of the activities of Catholic clergy and fanatical parishioners to incite interfaith hostility (insults to representatives of another confession, unfounded calls for conversion to Catholicism, erroneous interpretation of the Decree «On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance» and the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, and etc.). The authority that Catholic priests had among the parishioners often caused the latter to be hostile to their neighbors of other faiths. The article provides many examples of the fact that the appearance of fanatical priests in a certain area often disrupted the peaceful, conflict-free course of religious life. At the same time, there were cases when the erroneous actions of Orthodox priests and ordinary parishioners became a catalyst for the exacerbation of interfaith relations. The article provides factual evidence of the propaganda activities of Catholic priests in the Polish national spirit, analyzes the reaction of the authorities to it. The most resonant conflict between Catholics and Orthodox at the beginning of the twentieth century is described in detail – an episode in the town of Zelva, Volkovysk district, Grodno province. The basis of the source base of the article was made up of documents of the National Historical Archives of Belarus and the National Historical Archives of Belarus in Grodno. This article can be useful for specialists in history, students, everyone interested in the problems of religious and national relations in European countries. We see prospects for further research in this area in a comparative analysis of the situation in Belarus and other regions of Central and Eastern Europe of the 20th – 21th centuries, mixed in confessional and ethnic terms.

Piiskop Platoni roll õigeusuliste eestlaste vaimse vastupanu juhtimisel 1918. aasta Saksa okupatsiooni ajal

Piiskop Platoni roll õigeusuliste eestlaste vaimse vastupanu juhtimisel 1918. aasta Saksa okupatsiooni ajal

Formirovanie latvijskoj i estonskoj pravoslavnoj emigracii v 1944—1955 gg.: prichiny, osobennosti, ocenka

The publication is devoted to the problem of the formation of centers of Latvian and Estonian Orthodox emigration outside the Soviet Union at the final period of the World War II and in the first post-war decade. The main focus of the study are the reasons for the emigration of Orthodox priests in Latvia and Estonia with the retreating units of the Wehrmacht, their political position and attitude towards the problem of canonical subordination. The historiography of the issue that has arisen in recent years is considered separately.

Partnering faith leaders with community health workers increases utilization of antenatal care and facility delivery services in Ethiopia: A cluster randomized trial.

BackgroundEthiopia and other countries continue to experience high rates of maternal mortality and neonatal deaths. Interventions are needed to increase utilization of antenatal care (ANC) and facility delivery services to improve outcomes.MethodsA cluster-randomized trial was conducted in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, with 6 communities randomly assigned to receive the intervention and 12 communities monitored as controls. Intervention teams provided outreach to pregnant women and their families. Registry data were used to measure utilization of services provided at health centers in intervention and control communities.The intervention consisted of trained pairs of community health workers and Ethiopian Orthodox priests who worked together to promote health messages around safe delivery. The pairs visited pregnant women and their families in their homes to provide counseling, discuss concerns, and answer questions about ANC and facility deliveries. Intervention impact was measured using facility-level data on monthly number of ANC visits and facility deliveries at the health centers that served the intervention and control communities. Intervention effect was measured using difference-in-difference analyses estimated by generalized estimating equation models.ResultsDuring the 12-month intervention period, intervention facilities (n = 6) recorded 14% more ANC1 visits (relative risk RR = 1.14; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.09-1.19; P < 0.001) and 26% more ANC4 visits (RR = 1.26; 95%CI = 1.18, 1.34; P < 0.001) compared to control health centers (n = 12). The intervention health centers experienced a 10% increase in facility deliveries over what would have been expected had the intervention not occurred (RR = 1.10; 95% CI = 1.05-1.16; P < 0.001).ConclusionsPromotion of safe delivery through home visits by community health workers paired with Ethiopian Orthodox priests increased utilization of ANC and facility delivery services. This approach could leverage the influential role of faith leaders and increase the impact of community health workers in Ethiopia.Trial registrationNCT04039932.

THE SPECIFIC FEATURES OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORTHODOX MOVEMENT IN SUBCARPATHIAN RUS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 1920S (BASED ON THE EXAMPLE OF BILKY AND VELYKI LUCHKY VILLAGES)

This paper analyzes the newly discovered archival documents and materials of periodicals focusing on the development of the Orthodox movement in the second half of the 1920s. As an example, the author singled out two localities where Orthodoxy manifested itself yet in the early 20th century. Emphasis is placed on the fact that over this period in Subcarpathian Rus no Orthodox jurisdiction was established and there was neither bishop nor administration. All these facts used to lead to chaos and disorder within the Orthodox movement. The author argues that the population who decided to leave the Greek Catholic Church did not wish to comply with the outdated Austro-Hungarian legislation. It was indeed discriminatory and needed immediate reform. Based on the archival documents, the paper suggests that local and central authorities did not pay sufficient attention to the religious issue in the region. Due to the study of the sources it can be asserted that the government officials and the President of the Republic did not have a well-elaborated position on resolving a possible religious conflict in Subcarpathian Rus. Ignoring the population’s legitimate demands for the allocation of premises for prayer meetings, led to the forcible seizure of churches and church property. The paper analyzes the content of the appeals and memoranda to the President and government officials in Prague, in which the Orthodox Christian population offered their vision of resolving the difficult situation. The Greek Catholic clergy’s position as well as the bishop’s position on the Orthodox movement are studied separately. The author traces the behavior of Orthodox priests in the mentioned localities. It has been concluded that the radicalization of the relations was caused by ordinary believers who did not want to follow the clergy’s instructions. This issue is insufficiently explored and requires further research.

Восприятие современными православными священниками целей и эффектов личной молитвы

Восприятие современными православными священниками целей и эффектов личной молитвы

Interview with Military Chaplain Dmitro Povorotnyi, Conducted in Kyiv, 1 August 2018 (UKR)

Dmitro Povorotnyi was born in 1971 Dnepropetrovsk. He is a Ukrainian Orthodox priest and the head of the department of patriotic education and chaplaincy of the Dnepropetrovsk Eparchy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Povorotnyi served in the Soviet army, at the age of 30 he came to the church. After receiving his education at the Dnepropetrovsk Theological Seminary, Povorotnyi was ordained a deacon in 2002 and a priest in 2013 and has been serving as a chaplain since March 2014. He has worked with combatants of the 20th Territorial Defense Battalion, the Dnepr-1 Regiment, the 39th Territorial Defense Battalion, the 93rd Independent Mechanized Brigade, the 74th Independent Reconnaissance Battalion, and the 30th Mechanized Brigade. Military Chaplain, Russian-Ukrainian War, Anti-Terrorist Operation, Ukraine, Eastern Ukraine, Front, Orthodox Church of Ukraine

ВЕРОИСПОВЕДНЫЕ ПЕРЕХОДЫ АРМЯН В ПРАВОСЛАВИЕ В РОССИЙСКОЙ ИМПЕРИИ (СЕРЕДИНА XIX – НАЧАЛО XX ВЕКА): МОТИВЫ, ТИПОЛОГИЯ, РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ

An analysis of the religious conversions of persons of Armenian confession to Orthodox allows the author to evaluate them as a special phenomenon in the history of Russian-Armenian church relations, as well as to establish the features of economic, social, national, and confessional policies of the Russian Empire in the Transcaucasus in the 19th – early 20th centuries. The sources are the unpublished documents in Russian from the collections of the National Archives of the Republic of Armenia. Based on the available archival sources, it was established that the cases of the adoption of Orthodoxy by the Armenians were caused by three motives: 1) economic, 2) various situations of a non-economic nature, and 3) coercive measures. Despite the absence of a special “Armenian mission” among the Orthodox priests, the cases of Armenians’ conversion to Orthodoxy, especially those made for economic reasons, were rather actively encouraged by the Russian Orthodox Church. For the Russian government, the Armenians who converted to Orthodoxy were seen as a reliable social base in the Transcaucasus. The relevance of studying the issue is since, in the 20th century, despite the contradictions of the synodal period, the Russian Orthodox Church built relations with the Armenian Apostolic Church based on the principles of friendship, good neighborliness, and mutual assistance. Today, this factor contributes to the strengthening of both church and political relations between Russia and Armenia.

The Songs of the Bridal Chamber: Monks at Prayer by Stephen C. Headley

Reviewed by: The Songs of the Bridal Chamber: Monks at Prayer by Stephen C. Headley Hannah Hunt Stephen C. Headley. The Songs of the Bridal Chamber: Monks at Prayer. Volos, Greece: Volos Academy Publications, 2020. 253 pp. Stephen C. Headley's credentials for writing this exploration of poetic forms of prayer are his decades of experience as an Orthodox priest and his self-described experience as a "cultural anthropologist" who worked for many years in Indonesia as well as more recently in Moscow and South India. He draws therefore on some non-Christian examples of prayer practice in addition to the familiar territory of early Eastern Christian monks, providing some interesting insights into the global—one might even say, universal—hunger for communion with the Divine or a higher being. Part exegesis of patristic and scriptural writings, part celebration of the contemporary practice of prayer traditions, part theological reflection, The Songs of the Bridal Chamber: Monks at Prayer asserts the important contribution to human salvation offered by a personal encounter with God through private and communal prayer, in addition to participation in the church's sacraments. The book is divided into three sections, loosely covering "Poetic Prayer," "From Poems to Prayer," and the all-encompassing "Hope." There is no introduction providing a map of the route to be taken. Instead, Headley [End Page 278] dives straight into an overview of theological anthropology, drawing on the writings of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, mentioning (but does not dwelling on) fourth-century Palestine, Saint Isaac of Nineveh's emphasis on silence, the Liber Graduum, and Saint Gregory of Sinai. He then migrates to discussing the Great Lavra and Saint John of Damascus, illuminated by some observations about modern hymnography. Section 2 takes us to a consideration of "Indian respiration" where (perhaps as a parallel to Evagrius's concept of logismoi) thoughts control the celebrant's actions, and the relationship between word and sacrifice in Vedic tradition is explored. The connection between this and some Sufi traditions and Christian practice is hinted at, with the significance of silence in contemplative prayer being a shared experience. Chapter 5 aims to move "from anthropology towards a theology of prayer," however (as elsewhere), the stated intentions of the chapter are sometimes not entirely followed consistently, and the author's argument becomes interrupted by extensive citation. Here, Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint Ephrem, Feuerbach, and Bulgakov are placed in dialogue with each other. A further comparison between Eastern Christian and Asian religious practice is again explored in the differences between oral and written prayers, with a peregrination into the physical gestures and rituals employed in Indian temples. I found myself wanting a little more analysis of how this related to the Christian context and more actual explanation of the details presented. A chart on page 161, for example, needed glossing so that the terminology would be clear to the uninitiated reader. The final section opens with a question: how in Europe, both Western and Eastern, should we understand secularization? This is an important consideration and could have been flagged as a topic in a more substantial and focused introduction to the book. For answers, Headley mines the work of the twentieth-century Saint Justin Popović, before returning to Saints Ephrem, Isaac, and Maximus. This part of the book shifts away from the earlier analysis of poetic forms of prayer into a more general theological reflection and contains some lengthy digressions. Chapter 8 takes us from the twentieth century back to Saint Maximus and Saint Isaac once again for a discussion of eschatology, reminding the reader that both scripture and tradition arise as events of truth incarnate in Christ's body. The insights of contemporary theologians Christos Yannaras and Metropolitan John Zizioulas are set against more citations from the Philokalia (here amounting to a nine-page extract from the Four Centuries of Maximus). Chapter 9 introduces an exegesis of New Testament eschatology that also refers the reader to the Orthodox Study Bible. The book concludes that "There is no End to Hope in God," a comforting message of pastoral support. There are many nuggets of wisdom and pastoral insight in this book, but I did find myself unsure at...

Životinje i pravoslavna vera

Religion has always had a special impact on man's attitude towards animals. In this context, this paper explores the correlation between animal welfare and Orthodox Christianity, with specific reference to the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church on this issue. The research has been conducted with the aim of examining the links between animals and Orthodox Christianity, establishing whether the official position of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) promotes animal welfare, and whether its activities embody the recognition and protection of animal rights. For the purposes of this paper, the author has applied the sociological, legal-dogmatic, and historicalcritical methods. The conducted research shows that the Serbian Orthodox Church does not have an official position on animals; thus, the correlation between animal welfare and Orthodox Christianity cannot be precisely determined. Yet, due to the impact of the canons of the Holy Scriptures, it is quite certain that the Serbian Orthodox priests formally advocate for animal welfare and observance of animal rights, and officially condemn any cruel treatment against animals. On the other hand, man's love for animals must be moderate and never above man's love for God and other human beings. Orthodox Christianity does not prohibit the use of meat and fish in nutrition, nor does it consider killing animals an immoral act. Such an approach is also pertinent to Islam and Judaism, while Buddhism advocates respect for all forms of life by promoting the principle of ahimsa (non-violence), which applies to all living beings. It is clear that Orthodox Christianity does not advocate for the recognition of animals' rights to life, nor does it recognize animals as legal subjects. The twelve-year application of the Animal Welfare Act in the Republic of Serbia has shown that a number of factors hinder a better protection of animal welfare. The Serbian Orthodox Church largely contributes to such a situation by failing to promote animal welfare, protection and a more humane treatment of animals (particularly stray or abandoned animals) in its regulatory acts and social activities.

РЕЛИГИОЗНАЯ ЖИЗНЬ ХАРБИНА ПЕРВОЙ ПОЛОВИНЫ XX В. В УСТНЫХ ИСТОРИЯХ ЖИТЕЛЕЙ ГОРОДА (ПО МАТЕРИАЛАМ Н.Н. ЛАЛЕТИНОЙ)

The article presents the results of the reconstruction of the religious life of Harbin in the first half of the 20th century based on oral stories of the former Harbin citizen N.N. Laletina (born 1931, Harbin; lives in Ogre, Latvia) about her childhood, youth, family, environment, education. The interviews were collected in person (Harbin and Karlovy Vary) and online (Ogre). In addition to the topoi related to the Orthodox festive culture of the city, which were general for oral stories of Harbin dwellers, these narratives reflect the “geography” of the Orthodox everyday life of an ordinary Harbin family, stories about religious education at school, facts of syncretization of the religious consciousness of Russians and Chinese in Harbin, memories of attempts to Japanize religious life and school education by the occupiers during the Manchukuo period, as well as personal impressions of the Harbin Orthodox priests. A separate section is represented by various genres of oral prose (there were legends) dedicated to the Harbin mythologeme of Nicholas the Wonderworker (of Myra), the Harbin patron. In the oral narratives of the former Harbin resident, two points of view were combined - the direct perception of the little girl of the events of religious life and the assessment of these phenomena from the height of the past years by a person who now lives in a foreign cultural non-Orthodox environment as well.

«Господи, помоги мне сдать экзамен»: православные практики советских учащихся в 1940–1960-е годы

The relevance of the research topic is due to the need to reflect the process of functioning and reproduction of traditional legal culture in the USSR in the humanities, as well as the importance of an adequate academic understanding of the spiritual world of the "Soviet person". The purpose of the paper is understanding the phenomenon of mass involvement of Soviet pupils (schoolchildren, students of colleges and universities) in Orthodox practices in the 1940s-1960s. Objectives: analysis of the the extent of the spread of Orthodox practices among Soviet youth in the post-war decades; studying the forms of participation of schoolchildren and students in the church life of the period under review; identification of the degree of stability of these forms in conditions of state opposition to the development of confessional culture. Methods. The main methods that were used in the course of the research were historical-analytical, historical-genetic and historical-statistical methods, as well as elements of micro-historical analysis. Results. The paper shows that the degree of familiarization of Soviet pupils with Orthodox practices in the 1940s-1960s was significantly higher than Soviet propaganda tried to imagine. Church services were attended not only by representatives of the older generation, in the post-war decades they were actively attended by school-age children and students. In places where was a clear shortage of Orthodox priests and churches, young people were involved in spontaneous practices of a folk worship. Conclusions. The paper concludes that the main moments of the transfer of confessional traditions to children and young people in the USSR were religious holidays, primarily Christmas, Epiphany, Easter. The Day of Knowledge also had a religious dimension for some schoolchildren. State policy had a significant impact on the forms of introducing children and young people to church life. The anti-religious actions of the authorities reduced the level of pupils' presence in the public church space, but did not destroy the interest of young people in Orthodox culture. An important role in maintaining this interest was played by the semi-patriarchal way of life that persisted in many Soviet families in the post-war decades.