«Лояльна, патриотична и в политическом отношении никаких опасений не вызывает»: власть и Церковь в годы «развитого социализма»
"Loyal, Patriotic and Politically does not Cause Any Fears”: Power and the Church during the Years of “Developed Socialism

Summary/Abstract: Based on records from three Central Archive and six regional archives of Siberia, the article examines peculiarities of the relationship between the state and the Russian Orthodox Church from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s and traces the evolution of the government’s religious policy, the activities of the authorities and commissioners for religious affairs in regions, attitudes towards religion in society, and the position of the Church and its priests. It was found that interest in traditional Orthodox religion and culture was increasing in society against the backdrop of a decline in the authority of Soviet ideology. The vector of the commissioner’s activity increasingly shifted from controlling/managing tasks to advisory/intermediary activities. Local Communist authorities lost interest in religious issues and formally responded to the instructions of Moscow, reporting “on further strengthening of work on atheistic education”. The author admits the possibility of unfair reporting on the part of the executive branch in a number of regions concerning both the number of rituals and scientific-atheistic events. The features established specifically for Siberia include an almost universal increase in Church income and active and regular participation of believers in religious activities, a rejuvenation of the clergy, an increase in the number of clergy with secondary and higher theological education, the establishment of international contacts in a number of dioceses and the welcoming of foreign delegations. The church actively participated in the public life of the country, showed patriotism and loyalty to the authorities. Positive changes in church policy did not cancel the sharply negative attitude of the state towards religious dissidents and the “excessively” independent clergy; “heretical” speeches and discussions in regions were suppressed; at the same time, repression and harsh administrative punishments, with rare exceptions, were not applied. During the period in question, the institution of the Church started slow integration into the general system of power.

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