This Day in Religious History: On December 18, 1917, the newly communist regime of Russia completed the first of its many crusades against the church, making marriage a civil, not religious, ordinance. One of the central teachings of communism founder Karl Marx was that institutional religion impedes the goal of a classless society, and because of this, great lengths must be taken to see to its destruction. This is precisely what the Bolsheviks planned to do when they ceased control of Russia in 1917, following a revolt against the Tsars. They first confiscated all church lands on December 4, and then on December 18, they ended the longstanding practice of marriage being a religious sacrament. Sadly these events proved to be merely the opening salvo of an eighty year campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church, the first years of which resulted in the death of nearly 300 bishops and the closing of almost 70,000 churches. During the entirety of the communist rule of Russia, Christianity in all forms was brutally repressed in every manner conceivable, but it did not die out. Services continued in secret, and many of Russia’s underground Christians soon began receiving help from other European Christians and abroad. In the end, the Church showed it had the power to survive terrible suffering, continuing to live on while Communism in Russia collapsed.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 14:09:12 +0000
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