MASTER's THESIS M-2013 WAGNER, Noah Chester CHURCH-STATE
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MASTER'S THESIS M-2013 WAGNER, Noah Chester CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS IN THE SOVIET UNION 1947-1967. The American University, M.A., 1969 Religion University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS IN THE SOVIET UNION 1947-1967 Noah Cl' Wagner Submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Soviet Area Studies Signatures of Committee: r Chairman-: ^ V X L Date: The American University AUG 8 196S Washington, D.C. June 1969 WASHINGTON. O. C. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................... 1 CHAPTER PAGE I. ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF CONFLICTS BETWEEN ORGANIZED CHURCHES AND THE SOVIET STATE . 5 Historical and Political Factors 5 Ideological Factors .......................... 27 Geographic and Ethnic Factors ............... 42 II. THE POLITICAL FRAMEWORK FOR SOVIET CHURCHES . 45 The Constitution and Legal C o d e ......... 45 Party and Government Structure............ 59 The Government and Church Affairs .......... 73 The Moscow Patriarchate ................... 76 The All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians/Baptists (AUCECB) ............. 84 III. CHURCH-STATE INTERACTION AFTER WORLD WAR II . 91 Internal Policies ............................ 91 The last years of Stalin's Reign ....... 91 Religion under Khrushchev ................. 96 Policies under Brezhnev and Kosygin .... 108 External Relations ............................ 126 The World Peace Council ................... 130 The Ecumenical Movement ................... 134 The World Council of Churches ............. 139 iii CHAPTER PAGE IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ........................ 148 S u m m a r y ....................................... 148 Conclusions ................................... 157 APPENDICES .............................................. 164 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 184 LIST OP FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Organizational Structure of the Soviet Legal Sy s te r n ............................................... 69 2. Party and Government Control Channels for Religious Organizations in the U S S R ...................... 90 LIST OF TABLES TABLES PAGE I . Selected CPSU Members and Their Positions in the Soviet Government as of August 5, 1968 . II. CPSU, Membership as a Percentage of Total USSR Population for Selected Y e a r s ............. 72 III. Distribution, Size and Population of Orthodox D i o c e s e s .................................... 81 INTRODUCTION From the time of Constantine the Great (306-337) the Church has represented a secular power structure. As such, political leaders have had to take this fact into account whether or not they believed in God. Since the Church exists in the world and continues to attract people and their loyalty, it cannot avoid joining in some way the mechanism of political and social power. Even the revolution carried out by Lenin in Russia and the policies followed by his succes sors have failed to exclude the Church. It is the purpose of this paper to examine the degree to which Soviet political authorities have allowed the various religious groups in the U.S.S.R. to become a part of the Establishment and what mutual advantages have accrued to each party to these arrangements. The present study deals primarily with developments in Church-state relations in the Soviet Union after World War II to the present. The development of the Soviet Union has been characterized, among other things, by attempts of those in power to mobilize the entire population in building a new type of social structure. Under such conditions if institutions from the old regime are to survive in the new order, particu larly if they happen to be the object of planned extermina tion, they must arrive at some modus vivendi with those in power. Internal tensions will be created within these institutions as the policies of adaptation are worked out and in some cases maÿ lead to a splitting of the old organization. This happened in the Soviet Union both with the Russian Ortho dox Church and Protestant sectarian movements after the Bolsheviks came to power. The methodology followed in this study is to trace the evolution of Soviet laws within which religious bodies must operate, describe the political framework within which these laws are applied, and to a limited degree examine the institu tional structure of the religious bodies themselves. Against this background the interaction between church and state will be examined with respect to particular events, either within the churches, within the Soviet government, or in international affairs. The study deals primarily with two religious groups— the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Baptists— although some other bodies are mentioned briefly. The first was selected because of its centuries-old identification with the social patterns of Russian life while the second is the most promi nent Protestant organization in Soviet society. Both are sources of spiritual and intellectual forces with which the authorities must come to grips in their attempts to sustain a regimented society. The relations between the various religious groups and the Soviet state during the last twenty years cannot be studied 3 in isolation from the society in which they exist nor can we ignore certain historical developments in Russia which have had a bearing on religion in the U.S.S.R. today. The basic sources for this study are Russian materials such as the legal code, official decrees, books, and articles appearing in Soviet newspapers and magazines. These sources are used by other Western scholars as well and their work has been most helpful, particularly in dealing with original sources not otherwise available. Any study of Soviet affairs which deals with very re cent history places rigorous demands on the researcher's need to maintain objectivity. Even more critical is the difficulty caused by the propagandistic nature of the source materials themselves. Not even official publications of the Soviet government— laws, constitutions, statutes— can always be taken at face value. One must reserve judgment about such materials until they can be evaluated in light of their appli cation under the actual Soviet practice of the times. Limited amounts of concrete information reach the West from time to time without passing through the filter of the Soviet press. In themselves, they cannot give the complete picture of religion in the U.S.S.R., but they do provide verification at specific points. Church publications printed in the Soviet Union are also subject to propagandistic distor tion. If a church publication does not print active propaganda for the state, it will almost certainly take pains not to contradict the state. Works by other scholars and observa tions of Western travellers in the U.S.S.R. must also be treated with caution, for some highly qualified observers have exhibited pronounced tendencies to believe propaganda for or against the Soviet state and for or against the Rus sian Church. It is hoped that in spite of the limited resources and the pitfalls enumerated above that the present study will provide a valid and useful picture of some of the interactions between Church and state under Soviet conditions. CHAPTER I ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF CONFLICTS BETWEEN ORGANIZED CHURCHES AND THE SOVIET STATE I. HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL FACTORS Eusebius of Caesaria was the court theologian of Constantine the Great. In his speeches and writings on Constantine, as well as in his Ecclesiastical History Eusebius' key concept was that of the Imperium Christianum. In this he was probably taking up the ideas of Constantine himself as expressed when he consecrated the city of Constantinople on May 11, 330 under the name of "New Rome." He thus proclaimed his own view of his position within the Empire and the Church. At the heart of the theocracy formulated by Eusebius was a Christian emperor, modeled upon Constantine, who was the vicar of God on earth. God himself had made him the "image of His omnipotent autocracy." Eusebius asserted that the rule of the Orthodox emperor was based upon divine right when he wrote : "Thus God himself, the supreme Ruler of the whole world, appointed Constantine the lord and leader of all, so that no man can boast of having raised him up. " This picture remained the prototype of the Christian emperor and dominated the historical, political and ecclesiastical mentality of Orthodoxy. 6 Once the ruler occupied such a dominant position, it was extremely difficult for an Independent Church to develop alongside him. The chief bishop of the Church of the Empire was restricted to his spiritual functions of safeguarding doctrinal purity and supervising the modes of worship. The emperor, however, enjoyed the same solemn privilege as ordained priests since he was the only layman permitted to attend the Eucharist inside the sanctuary, behind the iconostasis. Thus the emperor was, in the theological sense, subject to the Church's spiritual guidance since he was a son of the Church, but in reality the balance of power greatly favored the Christian emperor. In the sixth and seventh centuries the imperial code of law fixed this special position of the emperor within the Church, It also explicitly stated that the patriarch was to "stand without fear before the emperor for the truth and for the defense of the holy teachings." The patriarch was assured spiritual freedom and autonomy but was precluded from developing independent political