Talk by Barbara Martin 'Bibles in the Land of Soviets: The Religious Revival within the Russian Orthodox Intelligentsia in Moscow (1970s-1980s)'

Abstract:

Starting from the 1970s, as communist ideology lost its grip on the younger generation, religion became an increasingly attractive worldview for young educated Soviet citizens. Despite the restrictions imposed on the edition and circulation of religious literature, they managed to get their hands on pre-revolutionary religious philosophy, Bibles smuggled by protestant organizations, religious samizdat and various religious publications from the West. And although religious gatherings outside churches were forbidden, they formed prayer and catechism groups, religious-philosophical seminars, and edited their own samizdat journals. In the process, they progressively integrated the Russian Orthodox Church as parishioners, choir singers, catechism teachers, or even priests, monks or nuns. This first generation of converts from the intelligentsia would later form the backbone of intellectual and religious cadres who accompanied and carried out the broader religious revival within late Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. 

On the basis of oral history interviews, this presentation will examine how Soviet educated youth found faith and joined the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow in the 1970s-1980s, which parishes they joined and around which priests they gathered, how they received access to religious literature, to what extent they faced repression and how they organized unofficial groups and seminars.