The Russian Orthodox Community in the Baltic States in 1940-1941 and 1945-1953: Change of Composition, Traditions, Relations with Authorities, and the Local Population
The Russian Orthodox Community in the Baltic States in 1940-1941 and 1945-1953: Change of Composition, Traditions, Relations with Authorities, and the Local Population

Summary/Abstract: This article considers the undisclosed problem of the changing composition of the Russian, and in a broader context, the Slavic Orthodox community in the Baltic states in the ‘first Soviet year’ of 1940-1941 and in the post-war period of 1945-1953. The main emphasis is put on a different tradition inherited by the two ‘Russian worlds’: ‘the sub-Soviet one’ and ‘the pre-revolutionary one’. In addition to purely quantitative changes, attention is paid to the issue of the Holy Sacraments and the relations with the non-Orthodox and the local population including the ones who were Orthodox by faith. Special attention is paid to believing settlers from the Soviet community, who immediately began to identify themselves as Orthodox. The material is based on a wide range of sources: the State Archives of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, archives of the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, memoirs of eyewitnesses and interviews with them.

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