The Russian Orthodox Church and its relations with the government in Kursk region in 1943-1953

The objective of the article is to investigate the situation in the Russian Orthodox Church in Kursk region after the Great Patriotic war. To be detailed, the work describes main focus of the religious politicy of the Soviet government in 1943-1953 and specificity of its implementation in Kursk region. The research covers the period from 1943 till 1953, when I.V. Stalin began to take into account the Church's interests and recognized the existence of the Russian Orthodox Church as a social institution. In 1943 the government established the Committee for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, for the first time since 1925 the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia was elected. Soon after Stalin's death in 1953 the religious policy was changed and positive aspects of the postwar course were abolished. The analysis of various archives' information revealed some peculiarities of church's policy of local soviet government in Kursk region in 1943-1953, its relations with the ruling Bishops of Kursk-Belgorod Diocese, condition of scientific-atheistic propaganda. The article investigates both the aspects of Church's existence in Kursk region and big quantity of ministering churches, their uneven distribution over the territory of the Diocese, regular shortage of priests and a high percentage of religious ritualism. The research explains the causes of these peculiarities, exposes specificity of relations between the ruling Bishops of Kursk-Belgorod Diocese and the plenipotentiaries of the Committee for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church. Positive character of these relations favours the maintenance of stable condition of religious institutions in Kursk region. The part of the work deals with scientific-atheistic propaganda in the end of 1940s.