Aggressive Piety or New Crusade

Annotation

On October 31, 1945, Georgy Karpov, the chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, sent the Soviet statesman Vyacheslav Molotov a secret document "on active and inactive churches in the regions and republics of the USSR and on the opening of new churches." It indicated that there were 10,358 Orthodox churches and prayer houses currently active on the territory of the Union. At the same time, according to the report, there were 6,073 places of worship on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR, while in the RSFSR there were 2.3 times less – only 2,606. The disproportionate placement of churches could be explained by the cold attitude of the Soviet authorities towards religion, as well as by basic history: after all, Prince Volodymyr the Great has baptized Kyivan Rus' in Kyiv. However, this statistics is even more intriguing in comparison with modern data: now, there are approximately 6,981 parishes in Ukraine, while in Russia there are more than 40,895.

Karpov also notes that during the occupation, the Germans opened about 6,800 new churches. Thus, we observe an odd and curious trend of sharp adherence to religion among the occupiers, which shall evoke further research and discussion.

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