THE UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC AND ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES AND THE PROCESSES OF THE FIRST SOVIETISATION OF WESTERN UKRAINE (SEPTEMBER 1939 – JUNE 1941)

Abstract

The article is devoted to researching the situation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches during the period of the first Sovietisation of Western Ukraine. It analyses the attitude of the Soviet state towards religion in general and the UGCC and RCC in particular. It reveals the causes and mechanisms of the repressive policy of the Soviet authorities and their atheistic policy. It traces the attitude of the population of Western Ukraine towards the anti-religious policy of the Soviet state.Upon entering Western Ukraine in the autumn of 1939, the Soviet authorities resorted to repression against the Church and its ministers. Churches and monasteries were closed en masse, their property was confiscated, and repression against priests and Church faithful began. In the first months of the Soviet occupation, all educational institutions associated with the Church and periodicals were closed, and church and monastery libraries and archives were confiscated and destroyed. The authorities banned the activities of priests’ organisations, brotherhoods and societies. In accordance with the proclaimed principle of separation of Church and state, the duty of registering births, marriages, and deaths was taken away from the parish clergy and transferred to state civil registry offices.During the first period of Sovietisation, thanks to anti-atheist campaign measures, the Bolshevik authorities very quickly succeeded in depriving the Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches of their social influence and means of existence.Repression against priests of the UGCC and the RCC intensified particularly on the eve of the German-Soviet war.However, despite all the efforts of the Soviet regime, the results of the Soviet anti-religious campaign of 1939–1941 remained more than modest. The cult of militant atheism became entrenched in the minds of the inhabitants of Western Ukraine as one of the most unpleasant experiences during the period of Soviet rule. The only thing that could compare with it was the fear for one’s life caused by the terror of the state authorities.