VERIFICATION OF J. STALIN PERSONALITY BY THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN 1943 – 1953
Abstract
The article is devoted to analysis of appeals, speeches, sermons, correspon dence of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church in which there are elements of spreading the cult of J. Stalin personality. The purpose of the study is to analyse the participation of the ROC in the formation and spread of J. Stalin personality cult. Expressions typical for representatives of the church, which characterized the personality of the USSR head, were determined. It was established that in the 1920s, the first assumptions about divine will in the establishment of soviet power came from the mouths of hierarchs. It was determined that this rhetoric intensified during 1941–1943 during the rap prochement of secular and church authorities. At this time, elements of the personality cult penetrate into the ROC and direct praise of J. Stalin begins. The cult of personality significantly increased in the church environment from the autumn of 1943. Since then, words of gratitude for the benevolence car ried out for the benefit of the church were constantly heard, and the merits of the army were gradually identified personally with the head of state. After the victory in the Second World War, the person of J. Stalin was identified with the victory. A kind of messianic expectations about the leader of the USSR arise in the church. There are rumours about the fallacy of attempts to condemn the soviet government in the 1920s. References to the period of the 1930s, as a time of mass repressions and the actual destruction of the ROC, have disap peared from church rhetoric. They were changed to express gratitude for the restoration of the ROC in 1943 and the liquidation of other Orthodox denomi nations in the state. It was established that at the end of the 1940s, the ROC actively participated in the celebration of soviet anniversaries, during which it comprehensively praised the person of J. Stalin, once again testifying to the divine origin of his power. It was determined that similar calls were made by representatives of the ROC at international conferences devoted to preserving peace. Here, the soviet leadership and J. Stalin personally, in contrast to the collective West, were presented as fighters for peace and the prevention of war and human suffering
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