RELIGION IN RUSSIA WHAT IS ITS FUTURE?/THE SOVIET ATTACK ON RUSSIA

THE Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed in 1922, with Russia being by far the largest and most prominent of its original four republics.  It eventually expanded to include 15 republics and nearly one sixth of earth's land surface. But in 1991 the Soviet Union was suddenly dissolved.  Significantly, it was the first state to attempt to eradicate belief in God from the minds of its people.  

Vladimir Lenin, the first head of the Socialist Union, was a disciple of Karl Marx, who portrayed Christianity as a tool of oppression.  Marx called religion "the opium of the people," and Lenin later declared:  "Any religious  idea, any idea of god at all, . . . is the most inexpressible foulness."

When the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Tikhon died  in 1925, the church was not permitted to elect another patriarch.  The attack on religion that followed resulted in most church buildings being destroyed  or converted to secular uses. Priests were condemned to slave-labor camps, where many perished.   "Under the rule of Joseph Stalin in the late 1920's and '30's," explains the Encyclopedia Britannica,  "the church suffered a blood persecution that claimed thousands of victims. By 1939 only three or four Orthodox bishops and 100 churches could officially function."  Practically overnight, however, a remarkable change occurred. 

Next time: THE SOVIET ATTACK ON RELIGION -World War II and Religion

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