I appreciate that as my extent of knowledge is basically the Soviet Union was atheist and allowed a little Orthodoxy for tradition.
Well, they tried to stamp it out initially. They shut down nearly all of the churches, and blew up some (e.g. Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow). But with World War II, they knew that no one was going to fight and die for communism, so Stalin brought back religion and patriotism. After the war, religious worship continued to be grudgingly allowed.
Did you read World War Z? One of the effects of the zombie apocalypse in the book is Russia returns to being an unabashed Orthodox theocracy. I bring it up because mentions of Russia and religion remind me of WWZ.
I haven't, that's actually the first interesting thing about WWZ that I have heard in my life.
religious worship continued to be grudgingly allowed.
The Soviets also used the Orthodox church as a form of soft power projection, instead of repressing it in its entirety like the Chinese do, which has created a whole collection of underground churches with contacts in the West that move resources and people in and out of China under the Party's nose. The Soviets simply co-opted the Orthodox leadership, and used the lines of communication between the Patriarchate in Russia and expat churches all over the West for everything from espionage to propaganda.
Well, they tried to stamp it out initially. They shut down nearly all of the churches, and blew up some (e.g. Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow). But with World War II, they knew that no one was going to fight and die for communism, so Stalin brought back religion and patriotism. After the war, religious worship continued to be grudgingly allowed.
I haven't, that's actually the first interesting thing about WWZ that I have heard in my life.
The Soviets also used the Orthodox church as a form of soft power projection, instead of repressing it in its entirety like the Chinese do, which has created a whole collection of underground churches with contacts in the West that move resources and people in and out of China under the Party's nose. The Soviets simply co-opted the Orthodox leadership, and used the lines of communication between the Patriarchate in Russia and expat churches all over the West for everything from espionage to propaganda.