The Tambov diocese in 1933-1935. The purge following the assassination of Kirov

The period 1933-1935 witnessed the most severe round of religious repression in the Soviet Union. Yet it is still not well researched. In this article, the authors present the history of this period in the life Church using the Diocese of Tambov as an example. Previously unpublished archival materials are presented. The most important of these are protocols from the legal cases against clergymen in the 1930’s, including the cases of Archbishop Bassian (Pyatnitsky), and the “methodian” and “josephite” groups.