DOI 10.51255/2311–603X_2025_3_142
P. G. Rogozny. The Russian Orthodox Church and the First World War: The Transformation
of Religious Perception and the Use of War by the Bolsheviks in Anti-Clerical Propaganda
after the Revolution // Petersburg Historical Journal, no 3, 2025, pp. 142–150
Abstract:
The Russian Orthodox Church provided unwavering support to the Russian Empire, which
subsequently entered the war that would subsequently be designated the First World War. It is noteworthy that the Church regarded the war as a patriotic undertaking, among other considerations. However, the initial surge of patriotism was soon superseded by the onset of a challenging period of trench warfare. Upon assuming power in 1917, the Bolsheviks regarded the Church as an ideological adversary. A primary tenet of the left-wing parties’ anti-clerical propaganda asserted that the Church endorsed the “bloody imperialist war”. The ecclesiastical institution in question was accused of violating fundamental Christian tenets and commandments. This propaganda had a significant impact on the peasant masses, who predominantly adhered to religious beliefs. The endeavours of the Church and the religious community to respond to the Bolsheviks and left-wing parties in general, through the use of counter-propaganda, have largely been unsuccessful.
Key words: Russian Orthodox Church, World War I, propaganda, anticlericalism, Bolsheviks, peasants.
Author:
Rogozny, Pavel Gennadievich — Cand. of Historical Sci., Researcher at the St. Petersburg
Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Russia).
E-mail: rorozny@yandex.ru
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