PECULIARITIES OF THE NORMATIVE-LEGAL REGULATION OF THE STATE-CHURCH RELATIONS IN THE USSR (1953–1963)

Abstract

The article analyzes the reasons for overthrowing the policy regarding private-liberal relations between Russia and the Orthodox Church (hereinafter referred to as the Russian Orthodox Church), causing a change in the legal regulation of state-church relations in the USSR in 1953–1963 compared to the post-war decade. Historiographic analysis of the reasons for the return N.S. Khrushchev‘s attitude towards the policy of persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the study of the legal and regulatory framework for the regulation of confessional policies, contributed to the author‘s opinion that the toughening of the anti-religious campaign coincided with curtailing the «thaw» and the growth of Khrushchev‘s voluntaristic decisions. The main goal of the new anti-religious campaign was the desire of the head of state to divert public attention from the growing problems caused by his gross miscalculations in the economic course within the country and the negative consequences of political mistakes in the international arena. The brutal administrative and command pressure on the church often had the opposite effect on the expectations of the authorities, aroused criticism from the intelligentsia of the domestic leadership policy, and outraged the broad masses of ordinary citizens who expected continued partial liberalization of the Soviet regime in the context of the «thaw» policy and reforms undertaken in 1950 years.