Persecution of Christians in the Eastern Bloc

After the October Revolution, there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the people of the world under communist rule known as world communism. Communism as interpreted by Vladimir Lenin and his successors in the Soviet government included the abolition of religion and to this effect the Soviet government launched a long-running unofficial campaign to eliminate religion from society.^[1] Since some of these Slavic states tied their ethnic heritage to their ethnic churches, both the peoples and their churches were targeted by the Soviets.^[2]^[3]

Across Eastern Europe following World War II, parts of the former Nazi Germany liberated by the Soviet Red Army and Yugoslav Partisans became one-party communist states and the project of coercive conversion to atheism continued.^[4]^[5] The Soviet Union ended its war time truce against the Russian Orthodox Church, and extended its persecutions to the newly communist Eastern bloc. While the churches were generally not as severely treated as they had been in the Soviet Union, nearly all their schools and many of their churches were closed, and they lost their formally prominent roles in public life. Children were taught atheism, and clergy were imprisoned or killed by the thousands.^[6]^: 508 In the Eastern Bloc, Christian churches, along with Jewish synagogues and Islamic mosques were forcibly "converted into museums of atheism."^[7]^[8]

According to some sources, the total number of Christian killed under the Soviet regime owing to their faith has been estimated to range around 12 to 20 million.^[9]^[10]^[11]

^ Rostropowicz Clark, Joanna (2010). "The Church and the Communist Power" (PDF). Sarmatian Review. 30 (2). Polish Institute of Houston: 1506–1508 – via Rice University.
^ Eidintas, Alfonsas (2001). President of Lithuania: Prisoner of the Gulag; a Biography of Aleksandras Stulginskis. Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania. p. 23. ISBN 9789986757412. As early as August 1920 Lenin wrote to E. M. Skliansky, President of the Revolutionary War Soviet: 'We are surrounded by the greens (we pack it to them), we will move only about 10–20 versty and we will choke by hand the bourgeoisie, the clergy and the landowners. There will be an award of 100,000 rubles for each one hanged.' He was speaking about the future actions in the countries neighboring Russia.
^ Calciu, George (1997). Christ Is Calling You: A Course in Catacomb Pastorship (illustrated ed.). Platina: Saint Herman of Alaska Monastery. ISBN 9781887904520.
^ Hebblethwaite, Peter (1993). Paul VI, the First Modern Pope. New York: Paulist Press. p. 211. ISBN 9780809104611. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
^ Davies, Norman (2004). Rising '44: the Battle for Warsaw (illustrated ed.). New York: Viking Press. pp. 566, 568. ISBN 9780670032846. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
^ Blainey, Geoffrey (2011). A Short History of Christianity. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 9780670075249. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
^ Franklin, Simon; Widdis, Emma (2 February 2006). National Identity in Russian Culture. Cambridge University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-521-02429-7. Churches, when not destroyed, might find themselves converted into museums of atheism.
^ Bevan, Robert (15 February 2016). The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War. Reaktion Books. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-78023-608-7. Churches, synagogues, mosques and monasteries were shut down in the immediate wake of the Revolution. Many were converted to secular uses or Museums of Atheism (antichurches), whitewashed and their fittings removed.
^ M. Nelson, James (2009). Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality (illustrated ed.). Springer Publishing. p. 427. ISBN 9780387875729. Estimates of the total number all Christian martyrs in the former Soviet Union are about 12 million.
^ M. Johnson, Todd (2012). "Christian Martyrdom: A Global Democratic Assessment" (PDF). McGrath Institute for Church Life. University of Notre Dame. p. 4. Note that over 20 million were martyred in Soviet prison camps and that well over half of the 70 million Christian martyrs were killed in the twentieth century alone.
^ Cite error: The named reference ReferenceA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[SR-1] Rostropowicz Clark, Joanna (2010). "The Church and the Communist Power" (PDF). Sarmatian Review. 30 (2). Polish Institute of Houston: 1506–1508 – via Rice University.

[2] Eidintas, Alfonsas (2001). President of Lithuania: Prisoner of the Gulag; a Biography of Aleksandras Stulginskis. Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania. p. 23. ISBN 9789986757412. As early as August 1920 Lenin wrote to E. M. Skliansky, President of the Revolutionary War Soviet: 'We are surrounded by the greens (we pack it to them), we will move only about 10–20 versty and we will choke by hand the bourgeoisie, the clergy and the landowners. There will be an award of 100,000 rubles for each one hanged.' He was speaking about the future actions in the countries neighboring Russia.

[3] Calciu, George (1997). Christ Is Calling You: A Course in Catacomb Pastorship (illustrated ed.). Platina: Saint Herman of Alaska Monastery. ISBN 9781887904520.

[4] Hebblethwaite, Peter (1993). Paul VI, the First Modern Pope. New York: Paulist Press. p. 211. ISBN 9780809104611. Retrieved 3 June 2024.

[5] Davies, Norman (2004). Rising '44: the Battle for Warsaw (illustrated ed.). New York: Viking Press. pp. 566, 568. ISBN 9780670032846. Retrieved 3 June 2024.

[:0-6] Blainey, Geoffrey (2011). A Short History of Christianity. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 9780670075249. Retrieved 2 June 2024.

[FranklinWiddis2006-7] Franklin, Simon; Widdis, Emma (2 February 2006). National Identity in Russian Culture. Cambridge University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-521-02429-7. Churches, when not destroyed, might find themselves converted into museums of atheism.

[Bevan2016-8] Bevan, Robert (15 February 2016). The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War. Reaktion Books. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-78023-608-7. Churches, synagogues, mosques and monasteries were shut down in the immediate wake of the Revolution. Many were converted to secular uses or Museums of Atheism (antichurches), whitewashed and their fittings removed.

[9] M. Nelson, James (2009). Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality (illustrated ed.). Springer Publishing. p. 427. ISBN 9780387875729. Estimates of the total number all Christian martyrs in the former Soviet Union are about 12 million.

[10] M. Johnson, Todd (2012). "Christian Martyrdom: A Global Democratic Assessment" (PDF). McGrath Institute for Church Life. University of Notre Dame. p. 4. Note that over 20 million were martyred in Soviet prison camps and that well over half of the 70 million Christian martyrs were killed in the twentieth century alone.

[ReferenceA-11] Cite error: The named reference ReferenceA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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