1. The Russian Orthodox Church and Rural life

2. Background
The Orthodox Church was one of the state’s greatest supporters and a key feature of rural life
During the later Tsarist period of the nineteenth century, there was an increase in church attendance and a revival in religion
Across Russia, there were 1000 religious houses, with monks and nuns, and over churches by 1914.
Other religions were tolerated, with outbreaks of anti- Semitism

4. Religion and Revolution
Many revolutionaries viewed religion as a feature of the tsarist regime and therefore having no place in Bolshevik society
The Church was a major landowner and therefore a class enemy, as well as it’s opposition to modernisation of industry
The Church also supported the Whites during the Civil War
Lenin therefore executed 1200 priests, nationalised church land and confiscated their property
Orthodox Christians were banned from the party, with the church seen as an ideolgical enemy.

5. Stalin and the Church
The 1920s saw no political or religious freedom for the rural population
A special section of the OGPU was set aside for undermining religion
Collectivisation saw an intensification in persecution of religion with priests arrested and killed
Churches were requisitioned and by 1939 only 500 remained.

6. What replaced religion?
Industrial growth may have replaced traditional religion, with factories as cathedrals
Religion was however never properly eliminated as political activity was
The Church eventually accepted the state in 1927, and in with the Nazi invasion, many turned to the church with many reopened and weapons being blessed
The Great patriotic war saw the Church and state cooperating, and by 1957, there were churches, far higher than the 1930s

8. Khrushchev
Khrushchev’s rule saw a reawakening of repression against the Church
Around churches now survived in Russia
The Church of Christ Saviour in Moscow was destroyed in order to build a new Soviet Palace, costs spiralled out of control but the Church was rebuilt in 1997

9. Church of Christ Saviour