“Ideologization” of orthodoxy in the late Soviet atheistic discourse of the Ukrainian SSR (second half of the 1980s)

The public discourse that shapes the relationship between society and the Orthodox Church in the post-Soviet space is genetically linked to late Soviet atheism. Previous research has mainly focused on the external forms of atheistic ideology in the USSR. This work traces the internal motives of the atheistic intelligentsia in the Ukrainian SSR using materials from the central annual journal on scientific atheism. It examines how these motives gradually led to the ideological appropriation of Orthodoxy within the framework of an atheistic worldview. The essence of this process was the maximal liberation of Orthodoxy from its theological content. In historical context, this was achieved by considering Orthodoxy solely as an appendage to the ideology of the ruling classes. Regarding the external forms of religiosity, certain aspects of Orthodoxy that were directly related to everyday life and popular traditions were emphasized. The idea was that theology did not play a significant role in the religious life of the majority of Orthodox believers. The rejection of theology and the attempt to marginalize it within the late Soviet atheistic discourse on Orthodoxy aimed to make the diluted forms of Orthodoxy complementary to the humanistic positive program of late Soviet atheism.