“I believed, and therefore I spoke”: preaching activities of the orthodox clergy of Perm diocese in 1960-1980s

The article deals with preaching activities of the Orthodox clergy of Perm diocese in 1960- 1980s. Archival materials show that church preaching was not intensive enough in that period. The reasons for that were the lack of theological education among many clergymen, their advanced age, and control on behalf of the Council for Religious Affairs. However it is found out that there were active preachers in urban churches. One of them was Archpriest Vladimir Platonovich Zhokhov, a cleric at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Perm (1961-1978). The article presents the first-time analysis of the unpublished manuscripts of the sermons written by V. P. Zhokhov from 1945 to 1986. From the manuscripts one can see that during his preparation for delivering sermons, Fr. Vladimir used all his numerous talents: great erudition, knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and poetry writing. The conclusion is made that despite the godless years and control by a representative of the Council for Religious Affairs, some preachers took their duty of testifying to people about Christ very seriously. Most of them cared about the content of their sermons, tried to be interesting and not boring when preaching the Word of God. During the years of state atheism, preaching activities of the Perm diocese clergy was undoubtedly helpful for believers to feel together with their pastors as one Church of Christ.