Russian Orthodox Church and Stalin

Published by

Clarissa

January 9, 2014

A publishing and printing center that belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church published the following cute calendar whose every page is dedicated to Stalin:

Every page of the calendar narrates an episode of Stalin’s life and features a photo of him. The calendar traces Stalin’s life, with January being dedicated to his childhood, February to his early youth, and so on until December and Stalin’s declining years:

The calendar is sold for 200 rubles (≈$6,60) and is marked as a best-selling item on the publishers’ website.

This is even more bizarre than those famous holy images depicting Stalin that a couple of priests use for prayer.

holy image

The Russian Orthodox Church doesn’t dislike Stalin because after 1941 he started a very radical and visible rapprochement with the Church.

In 1943, Stalin agreed to the suggestion of the Church leaders that a Patriarch (this is the traditional name of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church) needed to be appointed. Stalin had quite a good relationship with the newly appointed Patriarch Sergiy. The Patriarch was an unwavering supporter of Stalin’s regime and instructed every priest to offer regular public prayer for the health and well-being of the dictator.

The Russian Orthodox Church never apologized for its collaboration with Stalin or for serving the KGB long after Stalin’s death. The Church’s official position is that canonizing Stalin is not a good idea, even though there are a few priests who are hoping this would happen.

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19 responses to “Russian Orthodox Church and Stalin”

Titfortat

January 9, 2014

Stupid is as stupid does. No wonder Putin is so popular, youve still got a lot of stupid Russians.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  January 9, 2014
  
  Exactly. 😦
  
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  1. bloggerclarissa
    
    January 9, 2014
    
    And in all fairness, we’ve also got crowds of stupid Ukrainians.
    
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Titfortat

January 9, 2014

“The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.” (Stalin)

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Anonymous

January 9, 2014

It looks just as the XVII century, when the infamous duo, tsar Alexey Mikhailovich and patriarch Nikon, ruled the country and imposed a terrible dictatorship. They tortured the diligent clergymen and really pious people like boyarinya Feodosia Morozova. Tsar Alexey the Calmest was the father of Peter the Great, one of the most terrible rulers in Russia’s history, Stalin’s spiritual father.

And now Russia has another duo of the same kind, tsar Putin and patriarch Kirill. It’s only been 350 years ago.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  January 9, 2014
  
  Another brilliant comment.
  
  This thread is resulting in a lot of brilliance.
  
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  1. Michael Blekhman
    
    January 9, 2014
    
    Sorry for not signing my previous post!
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      January 9, 2014
      
      Everybody is a citizen of Canada in this thread and everybody is brilliant.
      
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  2. J. Otto Pohl
    
    January 9, 2014
    
    I am citizen of the US and I am not brilliant. There I fixed that for you. 😉 On the topic of the calender. I have become used to seeing these types of things. But, really it is the moral equivalent of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany putting out a Hitler calender. If that happened you would see a huge uproar in the US, Canada, and Europe. Somewhere along the line in the last couple of decades the battle for the control of popular historical memory went terribly wrong. It in point of fact is not a matter of education. People used to deny Stalin’s crimes. But, today they embrace him not despite, but because of his crimes. I know that a lot people in the former USSR think that Stalin was far too lenient on the Chechens, Crimean Tatars, Volga Germans, Estonians, and Latvians. The idea of “treasonous” nations (mostly women and children) still has a lot of support, especially among young people in the former USSR.
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      January 9, 2014
      
      “I am citizen of the US and I am not brilliant.”
      
      – Said he and proceeded to make a brilliant comment. 🙂
      
      “But, really it is the moral equivalent of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany putting out a Hitler calender.”
      
      – EXACTLY.
      
      “I know that a lot people in the former USSR think that Stalin was far too lenient on the Chechens, Crimean Tatars, Volga Germans, Estonians, and Latvians. The idea of “treasonous” nations (mostly women and children) still has a lot of support, especially among young people in the former USSR.”
      
      – True! History textbooks in Russia say that “Stalin was an effective manager.” They will soon probably add “He was especially good at managing human resources.”
      
      “Somewhere along the line in the last couple of decades the battle for the control of popular historical memory went terribly wrong.”
      
      – This is what my new research area is about: figuring out where it went so wrong (in my case, in Spain.)
      
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cliff arroyo

January 10, 2014

This reminds me of the post you made on Tolstoy, his wife and his boyfriend.

Church – Tolstoy
Stalin – the boyfriend
Russian people – Tolstoy’s wife

Russian patriarchy is such that those who are supposed to represent the people cannot relate to them at all or view them with anything but contempt. So they end up despising and exploiting the Russian public and can only find fellowship with each other (as long as they can work out mutual non-agression treaties).

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Anonymous

January 10, 2014

I have been told, as a follow-up to this story, thatthe church did not “publish” this calendar. It was taken on as an outside contract by a chuch print shop. I have also been told that the people at the print shop who accepted the job were fired. I don’t know how true this is, but that is what I’ve been told.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  January 10, 2014
  
  “I have been told, as a follow-up to this story, that the church did not “publish” this calendar. It was taken on as an outside contract by a chuch print shop. ”
  
  – these two sentences contradict each other.
  
  “I have also been told that the people at the print shop who accepted the job were fired.”
  
  – This I believe completely. That church is full of hypocrites of the worst caliber.
  
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el

January 10, 2014

Watched this video about Mass Games (North Korea).
“Over 6.000 acrobats and 100.000 other people perform for one man – Kim Jong Il, the Great Leader of North Korea.”

Mass games, parades, etc seem to have a mesmerizing effect on human psyche. I felt pulled in to a degree, despite thinking on being a resistant reader at the same time. Have you felt such effects in your childhood?

I was lucky to be born after Communism, but before (semi or real, no matter) Christianity at schools and in society. Escaped any indoctrination in childhood.

Another interestng post includes results of a survey, made in several Arab countries, regarding the position of women.
http://echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/appropriate-dress-for-muslim-women-and.html

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  January 10, 2014
  
  “Mass games, parades, etc seem to have a mesmerizing effect on human psyche. I felt pulled in to a degree, despite thinking on being a resistant reader at the same time. Have you felt such effects in your childhood?”
  
  – Yes, I loved military marching and all that kind of thing. 🙂
  
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el

January 11, 2014

Interesting article:

What’s Killing Poor White Women?
For most Americans, life expectancy continues to rise—but not for uneducated white women. They have lost five years, and no one knows why.
http://prospect.org/article/whats-killing-poor-white-women

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1. el
  
  January 11, 2014
  
  The last time researchers found a change of this magnitude, Russian men had lost seven years after the fall of the Soviet Union, when they began drinking more and taking on other risky behaviors. Although women generally outlive men in the U.S., such a large decline in the average age of death, from almost 79 to a little more than 73, suggests that an increasing number of women are dying in their twenties, thirties, and forties. “We actually don’t know the exact reasons why it’s happened,” Olshansky says. “I wish we did.”
  
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LS

January 11, 2014

Stalin himself almost became a priest in his younger days, did he not?

I was unaware of the Stalin/Russian Orthodox Church/KGB relationship, but I can’t say I’m surprised.

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1. Clarissa
  
  January 11, 2014
  
  There seems to have been quite a radical embrace of the church by Stalin after Hitler invaded on July 22, 1941. People say Stalin was really scared and remembered his youth when he studied to become a priest.
  
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