Abstract

The problem of the relationship between the state and the church in the USSR at the final stage of the Great Patriotic War and, then, during the first years after its end, is well-studied on regional material. This article is devoted to the situation in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. During the post-war years, both regions (the Kherson region only since 1946) formed parts of dioceses with centers in Dnepropetrovsk and Odessa. Therefore, in the eyes of the diocesan administrations and representatives of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, both regions were of secondary importance. In addition, both regions were not problematic, because contradictions between government structures and clergy occurred infrequently and were quickly resolved. So, the majority of priests, including the episcopate, showed patriotism and loyalty to the Soviet state and the party. There were also no noticeable contradictions of national or linguistic character in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. After the deoccupation of both regions, the main directions of church policy there were struggle against the ideological consequences of German occupation, on the one hand, and the return of public buildings occupied by parishes to Soviet institutions, on the other hand. These tasks were closely interrelated, because almost all Russian Orthodox Church communities appeared in the studied regions during their occupation. Taking this circumstance into account, the authorities did not consider the church infrastructure as a product of the German presence, besides, there was no anti-Soviet sentiment among the priests and parishioners. The seizure of public buildings was also more practical than ideological and political in nature. Local authorities and representatives of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church always offered alternatives to parishes, and both sides tried to resolve controversial issues in a compromise. This tendency continued until the end of 1948, when the number of parishes in both Kherson and Zaporozhye regions began to gradually decrease. In this regard, the situation in the regions corresponded to the picture of the whole country.