Abstract:

In Russia, in 1917, with the Bolshevik's overtaking, a strict anti-religious policy began to be followed. There was no place for religion in the communist government. The majority of the people were Orthodox Christians in the Soviet Russia, which was under severe pressure against the Russian Orthodox Church. The anti-religious campaign, in the 1930s, was even faster, many churches were closed or the communist government's property was handled away. Parliamentary elections were also prohibited. This policy in Soviet Russia II. It would have gained a different dimension with the developments in the World War. After the Germans attacked the Soviet Union, the Orthodox religious leaders stood next to the Soviet regime against the Nazis. The people were encouraged to defend the Russian territory. This "patriotic" attitude of the church attracted Stalin's attention and in the autumn of 1943 Stalin had a meeting with three Orthodox Metropolitan. After this meeting there was a improvement in the church-state relations. The churches began to reopen, religious freedoms increased. The reason behind Stalin’s new religious policy was not just the “patriotic” activity of the church. and II. The Soviet regime, which extended its territory after the World War, tried to show the Soviet government tolerant to the religion against the Western countries. Thus he planned to reduce the concern that the West heard about the Soviet expansion. This study analyses the policy of the Soviet government towards the church in the period from 1943 to 1957 when the pressure on the church began to improve the church-state relations.

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