"Frivolous" Believers and "Non-Modern" Rules: on the Issue of Traditional Orthodox Practices Deformation in the late Soviet Period

The relevance of the research topic is connected with the importance of historiographical understanding of the patterns of traditional confessional culture development in the conditions of Soviet modernization, as well as the need to clarify the place of Orthodoxy in the life of Soviet society of the late Soviet period.

The purpose of the study: to analyze the changes that occurred in the rites of the Russian Orthodox Church in the late Soviet period.

Objectives: to consider the socio-cultural prerequisites for the deformation of the Orthodox community cult life, to identify the features of changes in the most common Orthodox practices, to characterize the causes of these changes.

Methodology. In the process of forming the factual base of the paper the author used traditional methods of archival work, as well as methods of field research questioning, interviewing. Methods of description and historical induction, historical-statistical, historical-genetic methods were used to systematize the data.

Results. The paper examines the socio-cultural consequences of the socialist project of the renewal of society implementation in the late Soviet period, which determined the changes in the attitude of Orthodox-oriented citizens to religious life, analyzes the changes in the organization of the most common Orthodox rites – baptism, church burial, confession, investigates the causes of changes in their traditional forms.

Conclusions. The author concludes that the main vectors of deformation of Orthodox rites in the late Soviet period were associated with giving them a secret or correspondence character, reduction, as well as profanation. The corresponding changes were caused not only by the artificial and natural limitations with which church life was connected, but also by the lack of systematic knowledge about the mysteries and dogmatics of the overwhelming majority of parishioners.  

1. Pospelovskij D. V. Russkaya Pravoslavnaya cerkov' v XX veke. [The Russian Orthodox Church in the XX century]. Moscow, Respublika Publ., 1995. 511 p.

2. Odincov M. I. Russkaya pravoslavnaya cerkov' v XX veke: istoriya, vzaimootnosheniya s gosudarstvom i obshchestvom [The Russian Orthodox Church in the XX Century: History, relations with the state and society]. Moscow, CINO Publ. , 2002. 310 p.

3. Shkarovskij M. V. Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Cerkov' v XX veke [The Russian Orthodox Church in the XX century]. Moscow, Veche Publ., 2010. 478 p.

4. Eisenstadt S. Modernization: Protest and Change. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall Publ. , 1966. 166 p.

5. Travin D., Marganiya O. Evropejskaya modernizaciya [European modernization]. Moscow, AST Publ., 2004. 1237 p.

6. Poberezhnikov I.V. Perekhod ot tradicionnogo k industrial'nomu obshchestvu: teoretiko-metodologicheskie problemy modernizacii [Transition from traditional to industrial society: theoretical and methodological problems of modernization]. Moscow, ROSSPEN Publ. , 2006. 240 p.

7. Koks X. Mirskoj Grad. Sekulyarizaciya i urbanizaciya v teologicheskom aspekte [Mirskoj Grad. Secularization and urbanization in the theological aspect]. Moscow, Slovo Publ., 1995. 263 p.

8. Kupcova I. A. Sovetskij proekt modernizacii provincial'noj kul'tury: dostizheniya i izderzhki [The Soviet project of modernization of provincial culture: achievements and costs]. Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo lingvisticheskogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki = Bulletin of the Moscow State Linguistic University. Series: Humanities, 2011, no. 617, pp. 104–106.

9. Nastol'naya kniga svyashchennosluzhitelya [The Clergyman's Handbook]. Vol. 4. Moscow, Izd-vo Moskovskoj Patriarhii Publ. , 1983. 824 p.

10. Gordienko N.S. Sovremennoe russkoe pravoslavie [Modern Russian Orthodoxy]. Leningrad, Lenizdat Publ. , 1988. 302 p.

11. Apanasenok A. V., Pudyakova I. S. "Write it Down in the Book, I'm Not Afraid": The Rite of Orthodox Baptism and Soviet Culture in the 1940s – 1980s. Izvestiya Yugo-Zapadnogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya i pravo = Proceedings of the Southwest State University. Series: History and Law, 2022, no. 12(3), pp. 177–190.

12. Gosudarstvennyj arhiv Rossijskoj Federacii (GARF) [State Archive of the Russian Federation]. F. 6991, op. 5, g. 152.

13. Shlihta N. V. "Ot tradicii k sovremennosti": pravoslavnaya obryadnost' i prazdniki v usloviyah antireligioznoj bor'by (na materialah USSR, 1950-e – 1960-e gg.) ["From Tradition to Modernity": Orthodox Rites and celebrations in the conditions of anti-religious struggle (based on the materials of the Ukrainian SSR, 1950s – 1960s)]. Gosudarstvo, religiya, Cerkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom = State, religion, Church in Russia and abroad, 2012, no. 3-4 (30), pp. 380–407.

14. GARF, f. 6991, op. 5, d. 801.

15. GARF, f. 6991, op. 5, d. 1305.

16. GARF, f. 6991, op. 5, d. 154.

17. Kobeckij V. D. Obryad kreshcheniya kak proyavlenie religioznosti [The rite of baptism as a manifestation of religiosity]. Konkretno-sociologicheskoe izuchenie sostoyaniya religioznosti i opyta ateisticheskogo vospitaniya [A concrete sociological study of the state of religiosity and the experience of atheistic education]. Moscow , MGU Publ., 1969, pp. 161–173.

18. Serebryakov Y. G. Religioznost' sel'skogo naseleniya i zadachi ateisticheskoj propagandy [The religiosity of the rural population and the tasks of atheistic propaganda]. Cheboksary, CHKI Publ. , 1972. 39 p.

19. Filimonov E. Besedy po vashej pros'be: chto proiskhodit s religiej, ee obryadami i tradiciyami v nashi dni? [Conversations at your request: what is happening with religion, its rituals and traditions these days?]. Izvestiya = News, 1981, October 8.

20. О "zaochnom" otpevanii umershih [About the "correspondence" funeral service of the deceased]. Zhurnal Moskovskoj patriarhii = Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1931, no. 4, p. 1.

21. GARF, f. 6991, op. 5, d. 1828.

22. Vangorodskaya S. A. Otnoshenie k smerti v sovremennom obshchestve: kul'turno-istoricheskie osobennosti i vliyanie na samosohranitel'noe povedenie [Attitude to death in modern society: cultural and historical features and influence on self-preservation behavior]. Nauchnye vedomosti BelGU. Seriya: Filosofiya. Sociologiya. Pravo = Scientific Bulletin of the Belgorod State University. Series: Philosophy. Sociology. Law, 2019, no. 3, pp. 386–395.

23. Shavel'skij G., protopresviter. Pravoslavnoe pastyrstvo [Orthodox Pastoral care]. St. Petersburg, Izd-vo Russkogo hristianskogo gumanitarnogo instituta Publ. , 1996. 679 p.

24. Kicenko N. Ispoved' v sovetskoe vremya [Confession in Soviet times]. Gosudarstvo, religiya, Cerkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom = State, religion, Church in Russia and abroad, 2012, no. 3-4 (30), pp. 10–33.

25. GARF, f. 6991, op. 2, d. 2a.

26. GARF, f. 6991, op. 2, d. 34a.

27. GARF, f. 6991, op. 3, d. 152.

28. GARF, f. 6991, op. 6, d. 2494.