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After the October Revolution of November 7, 1917 (October 25 Old Calendar) there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the people of the world under Communist rule (see Communist International). This included the Eastern bloc countries as well as the Balkan States. 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: "In Poland, Hungary, Lithuania and other Eastern European countries, Catholic leaders who were unwilling to be silent were denounced, publicly humiliated or imprisoned by the Communists. Leaders of the national Orthodox Churches in Romania and Bulgaria had to be cautious and submissive", wrote Geoffrey Blainey.[6] 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.[7] In the Eastern Bloc, Christian churches, along with Jewish synagogues and Islamic mosques were forcibly "converted into museums of atheism."[8][9] According to some sources, the total number of Christian victims under the Soviet regime has been estimated to range around 12 to 20 million.[10][11][12]
- ^ Clark, Joanna Rostropowicz. "The Church and the Communist Power." Sarmatian Review 30.2 (2010)
- ^ President of Lithuania: Prisoner of the Gulag a Biography of Aleksandras Stulginskis by Afonsas Eidintas Genocide and Research Center of Lithuania ISBN 9986-757-41-X / 9789986757412 / 9986-757-41-X pg 23 "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.
- ^ Christ Is Calling You : A Course in Catacomb Pastorship by Father George Calciu Published by Saint Hermans Press April 1997 ISBN 978-1-887904-52-0
- ^ Peter Hebblethwaite; Paul VI, the First Modern Pope; Harper Collins Religious; 1993; p.211
- ^ Norman Davies; Rising '44: the Battle for Warsaw; Vikiing; 2003; p.566 & 568
- ^ Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Viking; 2011; p.494
- ^ Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Viking; 2011; p.508
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Estimates of the total number all Christian martyrs in the former Soviet Union are about 12 million.", James M. Nelson, "Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality", Springer, 2009, ISBN 0387875727, p. 427
- ^ "In all, it is estimated that some 15 to 20 million Christians were martyred under the Soviet regime", David Barrett, "World Christian Trends", Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2001, cited by David Taylor, "21 Signs of His Coming: Major Biblical Prophecies Being Fulfilled In Our Generation", Taylor Publishing Group, 2009, ISBN 097629334X, p. 220
- ^ "over 20 million were martyred in Soviet prison camps", Todd M. Johnson, "Christian Martyrdom: A global demographic assessment", p. 4
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