Stalin was a notorious opposer of Christianity. In Stalin's day, those who wished to worship had to do so underground in the Soviet Union. Later, the rules were relaxed, and religious life again became open.
Why did the Communist Party permit this?
One obvious answer is control. An underground church is a threat to the establishment, but an open church is controllable. Today, much of that control may be gone, but there is certainly a view that there were many KGB within the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox church, and that many of the influential patriarchs even today may have both KGB and Communist Party of the Soviet Union credentials.
The following linked article discusses some theories. It should be read with discernment - i.e. with a grain of salt. The person who wrote the article is in a position to know the KGB, but is not in as good a position to know the ROC. That said, the article seems to raise the important issues and ask the tough question: why did the ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) reunite with the ROC? Was the ROCOR also infiltrated, is its leadership naive, or has there been repentance/conversion of the KGB members/collaborators who hold office in the ROC?
(link)
-Turretinfan
Monday, March 03, 2008
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2 comments:
There are voices who didn't want unification because of old paranoias.
Why would there be KGB in the church now that it is not merely legal but state supported? Who is there to spy on, and for what purpose?
It's ridiculous to say the ROCOR is infiltrated. Since they are in a good position to know the people in the ROC, naivety doesn't seem likely. Since ROCOR still retains an independant hierarchy, one would ask what there is to be naive about.
O: "There are voices who didn't want unification because of old paranoias."
If you haven't done so, I suggest you research how the ROCOR became functionally autonomous from the ROC. I think you'll find your characterization of "old paranoias" to be a characterization of the very basis upon which the ROCOR was established, namely a communication from the Patriarch of Moscow to distrust further communications from Moscow.
O: "Why would there be KGB in the church now that it is not merely legal but state supported? Who is there to spy on, and for what purpose?"
a) The underlying premise is that the KGB infiltrated the ROC before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
b) Why would they leave just because the church became legal/state supported?
c) In fact, with state support comes a need for the state to know what is going on inside the church, lest the church become a political rival to the state.
O: "It's ridiculous to say the ROCOR is infiltrated."
How so?
O: "Since they are in a good position to know the people in the ROC, naivety doesn't seem likely."
The reason for the naivety would be the longing for unity. They may know the ROC hierarchs somewhat, but they don't live among them - the ROCOR live abroad.
O: "Since ROCOR still retains an independant hierarchy, one would ask what there is to be naive about."
They would be (hypothetically) naive about whatever progress has been made to rid the ROC of the reasons originally propounded upon which the ROCOR was founded.
-Turretinfan
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