Use of the council for the affairs of religious cults by the totalitarian regime to fight against protestant communities in Ukraine

Висовень, Оксана Іванівна and Школьна, Ольга Володимирівна and Задорожня, Аліна Вікторівна and Фігурний, Юрій Степанович (2024) Use of the council for the affairs of religious cults by the totalitarian regime to fight against protestant communities in Ukraine Occasional papers on religion in Eastern Europe, 10 (44). pp. 29-53. ISSN 2693-2229

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Abstract

The article analyzes the use of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults in the fight against Protestant communities in Ukraine by the totalitarian government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In the 1940s, the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults, created by the order of J. Stalin, directed all of its activities to the unification of Protestant communities and their comprehensive subordination to the totalitarian government. In the 1950s and 1960s the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults continued to successfully perform the registration, control, punitive, and repressive functions towards Protestant communities in Ukraine and practiced systematic control of prayer meetings of believers, religious practices, rites, etc. The employees of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults brusquely disrupted marriage and funeral ceremonies and gave instructions regarding the repertoire of wedding songs, funeral services, and leisure of believers of Protestant communities. In the 1970s the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults carried out active preventive and repressive actions against Protestant communities, paying special attention to unregistered communities and their leaders. In the 1980s the role of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults was gradually neutralized as the Soviet totalitarian system began to degrade and lose its repressive potential; therefore, the decisions of the Communist Party and Soviet bodies were implemented formally and nominally.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Ukraine; Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults; Protestant communities; Evangelical Baptist Christians; the USSR; Ukrainian SSR; totalitarian government; repressions
Subjects:	Статті у базах даних > Web of Science
Divisions:	Факультет образотворчого мистецтва і дизайну > Кафедра образотворчого мистецтва
Depositing User:	доцент вероніка іванівна зайцева
Date Deposited:	09 Feb 2026 11:01
Last Modified:	09 Feb 2026 11:01
URI:	https://elibrary.kubg.edu.ua/id/eprint/56317

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