Keeping the Faith: Russian Orthodox Monasticism in the Soviet Union, 1917-1939

Eugenia & Hugh M. Stewart '26 Series

by Jennifer Jean Wynot

In Keeping the Faith, Jennifer Jean Wynot presents a clear and concise history of the trials and evolution of Russian Orthodox monasteries and convents and the important roles they have played in Russian culture, in both in the spiritual and political realms, from the abortive reforms of 1905 to the Stalinist purges of the 1930s. She shows how, throughout the Soviet period, Orthodox monks and nuns continued to provide spiritual strength to the people, in spite of severe persecution, and despite the ambivalent relationship the Russian state has had to the Russian church since the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

Focusing her study on two provinces, Smolensk and Moscow, Wynot describes the Soviet oppression and the clandestine struggles of the monks and nuns to uphold the traditions of monasticism and Orthodoxy. Their success against heavy odds enabled them to provide a counterculture to the Soviet regime. Indeed, of all the pre-1917 institutions, the Orthodox Church proved the most resilient. Why and how it managed to persevere despite the enormous hostility against it is a topic that continues to fascinate both the general public and historians.

Based on previously unavailable Russian archival sources as well as written memoirs and interviews with surviving monks and nuns, Wynot analyzes the monasteries’ adaptation to the Bolshevik regime and she challenges standard Western assumptions that Communism effectively killed the Orthodox Church in Russia. She shows that in fact, the role of monks and nuns in Orthodox monasteries and convents is crucial, and they are largely responsible for the continuation of Orthodoxy in Russia following the Bolshevik revolution.

Keeping the Faith offers a wealth of new information and a new perspective that will be of interest not only to students of Russian history and communism, but also to scholars interested in church-state relations.

Genres: Russia, Church History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 13, 2004

Reviews

[Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

the league of militant godless is such a discord metal server/redditor name and it comes from some freaky edgelord jewish atheist. The monastics fought the good fight and used the soviet rhetoric to survive. all of the accounts seem so fragmented still because of the secrecy of the time. Shoutout nuns. The totalitarian model of soviet society doesnt really work, i feel bad for stalin because hes working with a bunch of snakes who suck up to authority and fake concern. I need to read the stalin biography by grigor sung because it talks about his time in seminary. hes so sigma and surrounded in secrecy whilst every other bolshevik is a suckup cringe lord. I wanted more details about the cultural destruction like blowing up all the churches. Its also difficult to gauge how suppressed the orthodox were in comparison to the Muslim minorities or the jews. whatever is the case the topic is rarely discussed.

[Nikki Stahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wynot weaves together first-hand interviews, historical documents, and other resources to tell the story of Russian Orthodox monastics under the Soviet Union. The text begins with Russia on the cusp of revolution, laying out the problems facing the Russian Orthodox Church as Imperial Russia comes to an end. Wynot demonstrates how monasticism was key in preserving a faithful church in Russia under waves of persecution, anti-religious propaganda, and attempts to corrupt the church from within. Wynot traces how monasticism adapts and survives in the changing and hostile climate under the new government. It may be good to note that this is primarily a historical text; one will have to look elsewhere for a fuller coverage of the theology of Russian Orthodoxy or Russian Orthodox monastics. Wynot seems to be one of the very few voices contributing to this particular topic. She has produced a well-researched but accessible text that opens up a strand of Christian history which seems to be largely unknown to the Western church.