Post-war Period: New Forms, Reactions and Influences

English

Religious Practices, Everyday Religiosity and Western Mass Culture in the Closed City of Dniepropetrovsk in Post-Stalin Era (1960–1984)

Part of a larger research project about Soviet cultural consumption and identity formation, this article explores the connection between religious practices and western mass culture in the industrial city of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, in the late socialist period. The Committee of State Security closed Dnepropetrovsk to foreigners in 1959 when one of the Soviet Union’s biggest missile factories opened there.

Two Types of Religiosity in the Times of the Late Socialism: Eastern Orthodox Believers in Vladimir Region

Using the example of the Vladimir city and surrounding oblast’, the author shows in this paper the real correlation of antireligious policy and lived religiosity in the late Soviet period. There are two opposing modes of such policy: on the one hand, the control over the Church hierarchy and its instrumentalization in promotion of the Russian cultural heritage, and, on the other hand, the persecution of lived spontaneous religiosity, such as the veneration of local “holy places.”

“Female Mullah”? Women’s Roles in Muslim Religious Practices of Middle Volga Region during the War and Postwar Period

The paper deals with role of women in everyday religious practices of the Muslim communities of the Middle Volga region during the war and immediate post-war period. The author explores the combination of traditional and new practices and explains them through the evolution of gender relations in rural society of Tatar Muslims.

“With no Preachers, at the Corner of Barracks…” Protestant “Barrack Communities” in Perm’-Kama Region in 1940–1950-s

This paper looks into the emergence and existence of protestant groups in towns and workers’ settlements of western Urals region in 1940-1960s. The everyday circumstances of local residents and migrants led to the formation of what we can call “barracks communities” of believers. The exiled “special settlers” sent to this area were adapting to the situation and created modes of consolidation in an alien environment. The author believes that these Baptist and Mennonite communities tended to serve as substitution for the lacking established Protestant institutions.

With Icons and Psalms, or a Bishop in Flight from his Flock. Mass Pilgrimages in Russia in the Times of Stalin and Khrushchev

Pilgrimages to monasteries or other holy places were a traditional religious practice among Orthodox believers up to 1917. Despite the Soviet government’s proclamation of state atheism, it was only with the mass terror in the 1930s that these practices disappeared. Yet in the context of World War II and Stalin’s following policy change towards religions, believers felt encouraged to practice the pilgrimage again. This article examines a pilgrimage to the famous monastery called “Rooted solitude” (Korennaia pustyn’) by the city of Kursk (Central Russia).

The Restitution of Church Buildings in Leningrad Diocese in Postwar Decade: an Analysis of Believers’ Petitions

The paper deals with the reopening of Russian Orthodox churches after the changes of religious policy in post-war Leningrad diocese. The author draws upon the petitions written by the believers and submitted to various state agencies where they provided arguments for the re-introduction of liturgical services and parish life. The data is taken from the material in various local and central archives.

Collective Practices of a Typical Community of the Evangelical Baptists in Late USSR

The paper deals with the community life of the Baptist Church in the USSR, their composition, institutional structure and membership, liturgical life, legal status and “illegal” activities with underground prayer meetings, educational and publishing efforts, religious weddings, etc.