Russian Orthodox Church always had a complicated relationship with the Soviet Union. Lenin himself cruelly persecuted priests, but he only did it in the time of Russian civil war, otherwise repression was not acceptable form of government for him. Although in Lenin’s time patriarch was imprisoned, true suffering of the Russian Orthodox Church began under Stalin. Russian Orthodox Church began to realize that it needs to protect itself and that is why the patriarch decided to support Stalin. However, that didn’t help, because in the 1930s (Stalin’s purges) new persecutions started. Because of this, Stalin’s attitude towards the Church in the Second World War is surprising. The Church was no longer persecuted because now Stalin needed it. Persecutions of those that wanted to revive religious life under German occupation still happened. These priests were severely punished because they were suspected of collaboration with German occupators. This was furthermore more suspicious because Germans started to openin churches that were previously closed. Because of this Stalin began collaboratin with the Church. After the war, it all started again: new persecutions, new arrests. Now they also started persecuting scholars that defended religion. Persecution lasted until Stalin’s death in 1953. Today, in Russia rules the conviction that is a mix of Stalinism and orthodoxy.
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