THE MANAGEMENT OF RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ON THE EXAMPLE OF PARISHES IN THE DIOCESES OF EASTERN UKRAINE IN 1958-1964
The article shows dramatic changes in the management of religious associations in the USSR that occurred under the government of N. S. Khrushchev (1958-1964). The example of life in the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church dioceses of Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk and other Eastern regions of the Ukrainian SSR shows the process of reorganization of the management system of the religious associations that took place under the pressure of state authorities, especially the Council for the Affairs of Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The authors have analysed the Soviet legislation requirements on religion and Church regarding organization of parish life, content of the party- state and Church-canonical documents that formed the basis of the parish reform of 1960-1961. In the study it is concluded that the mass closure of churches in 1960-1964 as well as undermining of financial and economic activities of church structures (parishes and dioceses) were achieved by use of strict administrative measures of the state apparatus aimed at suppressing Church life in the USSR and gradual destruction of the Russian Orthodox Church as a social institution. Most of the anti-church actions were directly connected with the reformation of internal canonical structure of parishes and the change of management paradigm.