CAMPAIGN AGAINST PILGRIMAGES TO «HOLY PLACES» IN THE CHUVASH ASSR IN THE LATE 1950s – EARLY 1960s

DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2024-5-4-107-126

УДК 94(470.344)+281.93«19»

ББК 63.3 (2Рос.Чув):86.372

Andrey G. BERMAN

Key words: the USSR, the Chuvash ASSR, Orthodoxy, Council on the Russian Orthodox Church, «Khrushchev’s persecution of the Church», pilgrimage, holy places.

An important component of the anti-church campaign that took place in the late 1950s and the first half of the 1960s was the fight against pilgrimages to the so–called «holy places».

Such campaigns were not new to our country, it is enough to look back on Peter the Great’s decree prohibiting the construction of chapels unauthorized by the authorities.

The cult of «holy places» is obvious to have been an important part of the so-called «casual» or «folk» religiosity and the presence of «holy places» supported the religious enthusiasm among the population. It is implied that in an effort to limit the influence of «religious prejudices» on citizens, the Soviet government could not help but pay attention to this phenomenon.

The purpose of the study is to study the struggle against pilgrimages to «holy places» in the territory of the Chuvash ASSR, which took place as part of another aggravation of state–church relations in the late 1950s – early 1960s, known as «Khrushchev anti-church campaign».

Materials and methods. The source base of the research was made up of materials kept in the foundation of the Authorized Council on the Russian Orthodox Church (since 1965 Council on Religious Affairs) under the Council of Ministers of the Chuvash ASSR (F. R-1857), located in the State Historical Archive of the Chuvash Republic. The materialistic understanding of history was used as a research method.

Research results. In the territory of the Chuvash ASSR, the plenipotentiaries of the Council on the Russian Orthodox Church record two «holy places» in their reports: in the village of Ishaki of Cheboksary region and in the village of Mirenki of Kuvakinsky (now Alatyrsky) region. An important part of the «holy places» cult was the worship of wells, the water in which was considered sacred by the population. Every year, on special days associated with the local cult, there was a mass pilgrimage to the wells with consecrated water. During the days of pilgrimage, spontaneous markets around the «holy place» were organized by consumer cooperation organizations. Pilgrimages were accompanied by appropriate practices (almost publicly undressing and dousing with water, foolishness, etc.), which could look shocking. Pilgrimages helped to maintain a high level of religiosity in rural areas.

In the late 1950s, the central authorities adopted a number of regulations aimed at minimizing and, if possible, eliminating the practice of pilgrimage. The Plenipotentiary of the Council on the Russian Orthodox Church in the Chuvash ASSR managed to put an end to the pilgrimage to the village of Ishaki and the village of Mirenki. However, «holy places» spontaneously appeared in other locations.

Conclusions. The Soviet society as a whole was ready to put up with religion, but within a clearly defined framework of the temple. In this sense, the struggle against pilgrimages fit into the educationist paradigm. The argumentation of the attack on the «holy places» is surprisingly similar to the argumentation of Peter the Great’s decree banning the construction of chapels in the «holy places». Both of these campaigns, which are two centuries apart, can be considered as phenomena of the same order, as episodes of secularization in the Russian execution.

References

1. Alekseev G.A. Chislennost’ naseleniya Chuvashii v period sovetskoi vlasti (1920–1991 gg.) i noveishee istoricheskoe vremya (s 1992 g.) [Population of Chuvashia during the period of Soviet power (1920–1991) and recent historical times (since 1992)]. Zdravoohranenie Chuvashii, 2020, no. 2, p 77–83. DOI 10.25589/GIDUV.2020.11.58.013.
2. Gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv Chuvashskoi Respubliki. Fond R-1857, Opis’ 1 [State Historical Archives of the Chuvash Republic. Archive R-1857. Anagraph 1].
3. «Dobit’sya zakrytiya tak nazyvaemykh “svyatykh mest”» [“Achieve the closure of the so-called “holy places””]. Vestnik Arkhiva Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 1997, no. 4, pp. 120–129.
4. Kudryashov G. O «svyatykh» mestakh i izvorotlivykh del’tsakh [About the “holy” places and dodgy dealers]. Sovetskaya Chuvashiya, 1959, May 17.
5. Lavrov A.S. Koldovstvo i religiya v Rossii. 1700–1740 gg. [Witchcraft and religion in Russia. 1700–1740]. Moscow, Drevlehranilishche Publ., 2000. 574 p.
6. Lipatova A.P. Variativnost’ legendy [The variability of a legend]. Moscow, 2019, 215
7. Lur’e V.M. Vvedenie v kriticheskuyu agiografiyu [Introduction to critical hagiography]. Petersburg, Axioma Publ., 2009, 238 p.
8. Narodnoe khozyaistvo SSSR v 1960 godu. Statisticheskii ezhegodnik [The national economy of the USSR in 1960. Statistical Yearbook.]. Moscow, 1961, 943 p.
9. Kyzlasova (Sleptsova) I.S., Lipatova A.P., Matlin M.G. et al. Ocherki traditsionnoi kul’tury Ul’yanovskogo Prisur’ya. Etnodialektnyy slovar’. [Essays on the traditional culture of the Ulyanovsk Sura River region. Ethnodialectic dictionary.]. Vol. 2, Moscow, Indrik , 2012, 656 p.
10. Podmaritsyn A.G. Sovetskaya kampaniya po prekrashcheniyu palomnichestva k svyatym mestam rubezha 50–60-kh godov XX stoletiya (na primere Kuibyshevskoi, Ul’yanovskoi, i Chkalovskoi/Orenburgskoi oblastei) [Soviet campaign to stop pilgrimage to holy places at the turn of the 50s – 60s of the XX century (using the example of Kuibyshev, Ulyanovsk, and Chkalov/Orenburg regions)]. In: Samarskii krai v istorii Rossii: materialy Mezhregional’noi nauchnoi konferentsii, posvyashchennoi 190-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya P.V. Alabina [Proc. of Sci. Conf. «Samara region in the history of Russia»]. Samara, 2015, 5, pp. 251–256.
11. Polnoe sobranie postanovlenii i rasporyazhenii po vedomstvu pravoslavnogo ispovedaniya Rossiiskoi Imperii. T. 2: 1722 [A complete collection of decrees and orders on the department of the Orthodox confession of the Russian Empire. Vol. II: 1722]. St. Petersburg, 1872, 686+73 p.
12. Soskovec L.I. Sovetskie veruyushchie: obshchie sotsiodemograficheskie i kul’turnye kharakteristiki [Soviet believers: general sociodemographic and cultural characteristics]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2004, no. 281, pp. 62–65.
13. Steklov V. Rodnichok v bolote [Spring in the swamp]. Sovetskaya Chuvashiya, 1959, July 7.
14. Huhn U. S ikonami i pesnopeniyami, ili episkop, sbezhavshii ot svoikh prikhozhan. Massovye palomnichestva v Rossii epokhi Stalina i Khrushcheva [With Icons and Psalms, or a Bishop in Flight from his Flock. Mass Pilgrimages in Russia in the Times of Stalin and Khrushchev]. Gosudarstvo, religiya, tserkov’ v Rossii i za rubezhom. Religioznye praktiki v SSSR, 2012, no. 3-4, pp. 232–256.
15. Shakhnovich M.M. Lokal’nye «svyatye mesta» i praktika bor’by s nimi v period sovetskoi antireligioznoi kampanii 1950-kh gg. [Local “Holy Places” and the Practice of Fighting against Them during the Soviet Anti-Religious Campaign of the 1950s]. Religiovedenie, 2023, no.2, pp. 79–88. DOI: 10.22250/20728662_2023_2_79.
16. Shkarovskii M.V. Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov’ pri Staline i Khrushcheve [Russian Orthodox Church under Stalin and Khrushchev]. Moscow, 1999, 400 p.

About the author

Andrey G. Berman – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of National and World History, I. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University, Russia, Cheboksary (galba@rambler.ru; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3574-327X).

For citations

Berman A.G. CAMPAIGN AGAINST PILGRIMAGES TO «HOLY PLACES» IN THE CHUVASH ASSR IN THE LATE 1950s – EARLY 1960s. Historical Search, 2024, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 107–126. DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2024-5-4-107-126 (in Russian).

Download the full article