church

Based on archival materials, the author of the article analyzes the activities of the Union of Militant Atheists in the Saratov Volga region and the role of the leader of this organization in the 1930s. Examples of the activities of the organization are given, both within the framework of anti-religious agitation and propaganda of the communist ideology, and as an initiator of the closure of churches and prayer houses of all faiths. Emelyan Yaroslavsky is characterized as the main ideologist of state atheism.

The article analyzes the relationship between the party and the grass-roots level Soviet functionaries and ordinary believers associated with the withdrawal from the church temples during the anti-religious campaign of the 1930s. Reconstructed model of behavior of participants of relations, explains the reasons for relatively easy win over the believers.

The article deals with ordeals («iudicium Dei») and their features after the Conquest compared with those of Anglo-Saxon age and contemporary continental practice. An introduction of the trial by battle, well-known in France, but unknown in England prior to 1066 is given. Meanwhile, common for pre-Conquest ordeal by hot iron was continued to be used with the help of the English Church, which controlled it. In addition it must be kept in mind that there are few real cases of ordeals known from sources, contradictory to the subsequent age of the Plantagenets.

The article is devoted to the study of the social aspect of the life of Tudor London. On the material of the wills the author shows that the majority of the testators are artisans, small traders and merchants of the «Twelve Great Livery Companies» of London. Also, there are representatives of the service sector, gentry and the emerging intelligentsia. Among the recipients of the inheritance numerous church institutions of the city are mentioned. Some wills belong to women: wives or widows of merchants and artisans.

The article is devoted to the analysis of American observers’ views on the status of religion in the Soviet society in the 1930s. There were two different groups among them: engineers and workers who came to participate in the industrialization of the USSR, and professional journalists from the United States. Perceiving the socio-political processes that took place in our counrty often in different ways, the American observers agreed on one position.

The article on the material of wills examines the social side of the life of Londoners in the era of the late Plantagenets. The author finds out that the majority of testaments refers to a professional community: to merchants and mongers, to artisans and workers in the service sector, as well as to the nascent intelligentsia and administrative apparatus. These categories are disproportionate – the majority of testators belong to the merchants and craftsmen of the townspeople.

The article examines a charity in London at the end of the 15th–16th Centuries based on the material of the wills of merchants and artisans and their widows. The directions of the citizens‘s charity are identified: Church, social, cultural and educational, and specific forms of their manifestation are characterized from a gender perspective.

The author of the publication analyzes the religious policy of the Soviet state in the 70s of the twentieth century. The main stages of the evolution of the religious policy of the state in the field of lawmaking, as well as the features of its implementation in relation to religious organizations, are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the process of relations between the Council for Religious Affairs under the Government of the USSR and the Ryazan authorized Council with specific communities of believers of different faiths.

The article highlights the relationships between the Soviet state and the Russian Orthodox Church (hereinafter referred to as the «Russian Orthodox Church») in the late 1920s and early 1930s, during the period of collectivization of the villages, which was accompanied by the destruction of traditional life, a dramatic violation of the usual way of life. The focus is on the policy of attacking the Russian Orthodox Church, expressed in the closure of churches and monasteries, militant atheism and repressive measures against priests.