Half a million people may have suffered for Orthodox faith in USSR

Source: Interfax-Religion

Ufa, November 16, 2016   

Photo: http://66.media.tumblr.com/ Photo: http://66.media.tumblr.com/
Thousands of people may have been subjected to repression for Orthodox faith under Soviet rule, church researchers said.

"The total number of victims in the years of the repression currently cannot be determined because the archives of the relevant agencies are not accessible to the public. However, church researchers believe the number of people who suffered for their faith may reach 500,000 people," Metropolitan of Ufa and Sterlitamak Nikon said at the 6th Tabyn Recitals entitled '1917-2017: Centennial Lessons.'

The names of 1,774 saints have now been included in the Assembly of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, he said.

The hierarch said most people of Russia kept their Orthodox faith despite the persecution of the Church.

"According to the population census conducted in 1937, when anti-religious propaganda in the USSR reached its peak, 56.7% of the people aged 16 and older were believers," he said.

Interfax-Religion

11/16/2016

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Comments
Panagiotis12/30/2021 7:25 pm
To: Orthodox Brother Herman: God Bless you, and I hope you continue to leave comments on this website. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to your Family. Just my humble opinion.
Herman9/30/2021 5:26 pm
Panagiotis: much of what they did is also still classified in documents in Moscow that the government and Church refuse to open or discuss. Until full honesty and transparency is accepted, we'll continue to get whitewashing of history just like we see here. You are right - there were tens of millions who suffered, were killed, persecuted, exiled, and so on. In Ukraine just last month 8,000 bodies were found in Odessa, but they cannot be identified because the records are in Moscow and they won't deal with the Ukrainian government. So it goes...
Panagiotis9/30/2021 3:49 pm
This 500,000 figure appears to be terribly low... We know that Millions of Orthodox Christians were savagely turtured and murdered, including tens of thousands of Priests, Bishops, Monks, Nuns, Etc....Tens of thousands of Orthodox Churches, Schools, Monasteries, Etc were also destroyed by the monster communists... much of what they did was never recorded because they operated under secrecy..
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