Civil War (see White movement) after the October Revolution. This may have
further strengthened the Bolshevik animus against the church. According to
Lenin, a communist regime cannot remain neutral on the question of religion
but must show itself to be merciless towards it. There was no place for the
church in Lenin's classless society.[citation needed]
Before and after the October Revolution of 7 November 1917 (October 25 Old
Calendar) there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the
people of the world under Communist rule (see Communist International). This
included the Eastern European bloc countries as well as the Balkan States.
Since some of these Slavic states tied their ethnic heritage to their ethnic
churches, both the peoples and their church were targeted by the Soviet and
its form of State atheism.[62][63] The Soviets' official religious stance was one
of "religious freedom or tolerance", though the state established atheism as the
only scientific truth.[64][65][66] Criticism of atheism was strictly forbidden and
sometimes resulted in imprisonment.[67]
The Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological objective the
elimination of religion. Toward that end, the Communist regime led by such
figures as Felix Dzerzhinsky and Lavrentiy Beria of the Cheka confiscated and
destroyed church property (see Kamoyants St. Gevorg), ridiculed religion,
harassed believers, and propagated atheism in the schools. Actions toward
particular religions, however, were determined by State interests, and most
organized religions were never outlawed. It is estimated that some 20 million
Christians (17 million Orthodox and 3 million Roman Catholic) died or were
interned in gulags.[68] Some actions against Orthodox priests and believers
along with execution included torture being sent to prison camps, labour camps
or mental hospitals.[69][70] The result of state sponsored atheism was to
transform the Church into a persecuted and martyred Church. In the first five
years after the Bolshevik revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were
executed.
En 1914 haba 55 173 iglesias ortodoxas rusas y 29 593 capillas, 112 629
sacerdotes y diconos, 550 monasterios y conventos 475 con un total de 95
259 monjes y monjas en Rusia.
El ao 1917 fue un punto de inflexin en la historia de Rusia y de la Iglesia
ortodoxa rusa.8 El Imperio ruso se disolvi y el gobierno zarista que haba
otorgado numerosos privilegios a la Iglesia fue derrocado. Despus de unos
meses de agitacin poltica, los bolcheviques tomaron el poder en octubre de
1917 y declararon la separacin de la Iglesia y el Estado. As, la Iglesia
ortodoxa rusa se encontr sin apoyo oficial del estado por primera vez en su
historia. Uno de los primeros decretos del nuevo gobierno comunista (emitido
en enero de 1918) declar la libertad de la "propaganda religiosa y anti-