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The Ecumenical and Patriotic Activity of the Estonian Eparchy in the Context of Soviet Politics of Religion in 1954–1964

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2012

Andrei Sõtšov
Andrei Sõtšov*
Affiliation:
University of Tartu
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Andrei Sõtšov, University of Tartu, Department of Church History, Faculty of Theology, Estonia. E-mail: andrei.sotsov@mail.ee
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Abstract

The post-Stalinist decade resulted in a temporary liberalization in Soviet religious policy in 1956–1957, followed by an intensification of administrative suppression of religious life during the years 1958–1964. A close evaluation of archival sources reveals the quiet two-faced tendencies of Soviet religious policies vis-a-vis the Orthodox Church of occupied Estonia: on one hand, the dozens of orthodox congregations at the local level were forcibly liquidated and the number of clerics decreased rapidly; on the other hand, the patriotic and ecumenical activities of the administration of the Estonian Eparchy increased dramatically and achieved its “golden era” during the tenure of its new bishop of Tallinn, Aleksii Ridiger (the future patriarch Aleksii II of Moscow). This study describes in detail the gradual increase in the interference of Soviet propaganda with the ecumenical and patriotic activity of the Estonian Eparchy from 1959. In the course of subsequent restrictions and the persecution of religion under Khrushchev, the Estonian Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate was integrated into the larger scheme of Soviet peace propaganda and ecumenical cooperation. This took the form mainly of the joint reception of foreign church delegations which coincided with the tenure of Bishop Aleksii, who played a big role in the Moscow hierarchy as well as in the external affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church. Visits of Church delegations in Tallinn and Kuremäe monastery became a kind of “show piece” of religious freedom and played their part in Soviet peace propaganda. In conclusion, the rise and ebb of the patriotic and ecumenical activity of the Orthodox diocese in occupied Estonia were influenced by the changes, which took place among the USSR's highest authorities in the religious policies level and by the transition from Stalinist totalitarian dictatorship toward Nikita Khrushchev's more oligarchical system.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , April 2012 , pp. 36 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2012

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