ORTHODOXY AND SOCIETY IN THE USSR AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SOVIET-GERMAN WAR: HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE ISSUE

Abstract

The place of religion, in particular Orthodoxy, in the society of the Ukrainian SSR at the beginning of the war with Germany and its allies has been the subject of debate for a long time. It is a factor that necessitated a historiographical analysis of the problem. The purpose of the article is to analyze studies about the status of the Orthodox Church in the Ukrainian SSR at the beginning of the Soviet-German war, to determine their sources and methodological basis, to explain changes in interpretations of the church's place in state and society. The chronological frames of our study covers the period from the beginning of Germany's and its satellites' aggression against the USSR to the occupation by German troops the complete territory of Ukrainian SSR. The geographical frames is limited to the territory of Ukrainian SSR at the beginning of the German aggression, except for the lands annexed by Soviet Union during 1939–1940, because there was no total collectivization and did not take place their comprehensive integration into the Soviet social organism at the moment of Germany's aggression. Our research covers only the territory that was under the control of the Soviet government. The principles of historicism and systematization, methods of comparison and generalization, structuring and analysis were used in the article. It is important to continue scientific research on the relationship between Orthodoxy and society of the Ukrainian SSR in 1941–1942, because it is difficult to assess the level of religiosity in Soviet society at the beginning of the war: NKVD's reports, memoirs and documents of party's institutions don't agree with each other. In the Soviet political system the society influence on the government was artificially limited, so the state organs didn't know public views. Conclusions. In the article the development of views on the role of Orthodoxy in the Ukrainian SSR in this period and traces of the source base formation are summarized. The problems of political influence on the interpretation ...