THE POLICY OF THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT IN THE RELIGIOUS SPHERE IN VOLYN IN 1944–1991

Abstract

The study highlights the influence of the Soviet government on religious institutions operating in the Volyn region. A retrospective analysis of the policy of the Soviet authorities in Volyn in the religious sphere is carried out, the means of administrative interference of the authorities in the management of churches, as well as the reaction of the local population to it. The state and tendencies among believers, their activities in the period of totalitarianism are clarified, the peculiarities of the activities of the Orthodox churches in Volyn are revealed. The specifics of the atheistic and propagandistic activities of the party authorities are revealed. Attention is paid to the methods of combating religious movements by the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The aim of the article is to characterize the regional features of state-church relations in the Volyn region against the background of socio-political and socio-cultural processes with the involvement of archival sources. The scientific novelty lies in the comprehensive analysis of the activities of the Soviet administrative apparatus in the religious sphere in Volhynia. It is concluded that despite the mass and regularity of the events carried out by the Soviet-party power apparatus, they were ineffective and did not have an impact on the high religiosity of the population of the region. It is assumed that the reason for the ineffective activity of the Soviet-party authorities was, first of all, the "superficiality of work", as well as a certain liberalization of power and the weakening of the repressive and punitive system on the population. It was noted that in Volyn there was a significant percentage of the population who continued to visit places of worship, adhered to religious rituals, held services outside closed or destroyed churches, as well as attempts were made to create new religious communities and attempts to save existing religious buildings from destruction.