The paper explores some transformations in Russian Orthodox ritual practices both during the Khrushchev antireligious campaign and in its aftermath; it draws on the Ukrainian material. The article examines illegal rituals, modifications of traditional life-cycle rituals, “lay services”, and organizational changes introduced into major church celebrations. Drawing on vast archival material, the author traces who initiated these transformations (laity, clergy, hierarchy) and also the attitude towards them on the part of state and ecclesiastical authorities.

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.”

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.

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.

The paper explores religiosity in a newly built Soviet city of Magnitogorsk. The author finds out that in spite of official antireligious policies and the declarative goal to create a “city without churches”, the population continued religious practices. The way religiosity was officially controlled and measured — by the number of churches, visible religious attributes, and open rituals — helped create a relatively calm life for believers with their “invisible” practices.