The view of contemporary researchers on the relationship between the state and church in the south of the RSFSR during the second half of the 20th century

The article offers a review of modern-day scientific research studies, which analyze the relationship between the state and church as well as general standing of the Russian Orthodox Church in the south of the RSFSR during the second half of the 20th century. The article highlights the progress made in this field of research and shows the overall level of detalization of the topic. There has been noticed a certain irregularity in the depth of scientific elaboration of the topic among separate territorial entities of the South of Russia. The works of local scientists and researchers from the clergy from different perspectives describe the events in the history of the eparchies and the evolution of the state to church relations in the Lower Volga region in the middle of the 20th century. Major obstacles for the scientists are selective character of disclosure to the public of the materials from municipal archives and archives of governmental institutions, partial loss of the documents kept in the archives, absence of official statistical data about the population of church-goers and its religious identity, different level of detalization in the reports of the officials for the affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church and officials for religious affairs. Local historians have not yet dwelt on the reasons for the changes in the church structure of the region or on the problems associated with implementation of church policy in separate locations and have not yet produced an objective evaluation of the outcomes of atheistic education of the youth and working people in the south of the RSFSR in the second half of the 20th century.