Pilgrims and Persecutions MTA
Religion, Atheism, and the Orthodox Church under Soviet Rule

About this book:

*Pilgrims and Persecutions* examines the survival and transformation of the Russian Orthodox Church and other faith communities under seven decades of Soviet rule. The narrative traces the trajectory of religious life from the 1917 Revolution—which dismantled the imperial sacred order and stripped the Church of its legal and economic status—through the systematic repressions of the Stalin and Khrushchev eras. The book illustrates how the state's project of "scientific atheism" sought to replace religious devotion with secular "red rituals," while believers adapted by moving worship into the domestic sphere, developing clandestine monastic networks, and navigating a "gray zone" of administrative negotiation with local officials.

The book highlights the pivotal role of women as the primary custodians of faith and the domestic church, ensuring the transmission of traditions when formal institutions were shuttered. It also explores the complex relationship between the Moscow Patriarchate and the diaspora, the emergence of religious dissent in the 1970s through *samizdat* and human rights advocacy, and the unexpected tactical rapprochement during World War II when the state rediscovered the mobilizing power of tradition. These decades of endurance fostered a distinct religious literacy characterized by situational identity and ritual bilingualism, allowing faith to persist in the interstices of an officially godless society.

The narrative concludes with the managed religious revival surrounding the 1988 millennium of the Baptism of Rus' and the subsequent opening of the public square during Perestroika. By documenting the reclamation of property, the canonization of "New Martyrs," and the transition of faith from an underground existence to a public force, the book argues that religion was not merely a relic of the past but a resilient and evolving presence. Ultimately, *Pilgrims and Persecutions* offers a social history of how faith communities survived by bending without breaking, fundamentally shaping the moral and cultural landscape of the post-Soviet world.

What You'll Find Inside:

• How Orthodox religious practices persisted through privatization and domestic rituals despite state efforts to eradicate faith
• The evolving church-state relationship across Soviet eras, from confrontation to managed toleration and negotiation
• The critical role of women as primary sustainers of religious life through household piety, informal networks, and domestic altars
• Forms of resistance including samizdat networks, clandestine monasticism, and everyday negotiations in the 'gray zone'
• How religious identity adapted through ritual innovation, memory preservation, and compromises that allowed faith to endure

Who's It For:

This book is ideal for scholars and students of Soviet history, religious studies, and Eastern European studies. It will particularly benefit readers interested in the sociology of religion, especially how faith communities survive and adapt under authoritarian regimes. Anyone studying the dynamics between state power and religious institutions, or the persistence of belief in secularizing societies, will find valuable insights in this nuanced historical analysis of Orthodox resilience.