A Focus OF THE SOVIET ATTACK - Church Collaboration With the Soviets

In his 1945 book, Russia Is No Riddle, Edmund Stevens wrote:  "The Church took great care not to bite the hand that was now feeding it. It fully realized that in return for the favors bestowed  the State expected the Church to gives its form support to the system and to operate within certain limits. 

Stevens went on to explain:  "The tradition of centuries as the official State religion was deeply rooted in the Orthodox Church, and it therefore slipped very naturally into its new role of close collaboration with the Soviet Government."

The Keston institute thoroughly researched the past collaboration between the Soviets and Alexis II, today's patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.  Its report concluded :  "Aleksi's  collaboration was nothing exceptional-almost all senior leaders of all officially recognized religions faiths-including the Catholics, Baptists, Adventists, Muslims, and Buddhists-were recruited  KGB agents.  Indeed,m the annual report that describes Aleksi's recruitment also covers numerous other agents, some of them in the Estonian Church." 

Next time: A Focus OF THE SOVIET ATTACK - How the Witnesses Survived  

From the jw.org publications