Abstract
From the very beginning of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR, both sides of the conflict tried to use religion as an instrument of ideological confrontation. Joseph Stalin tried to hold the Pan-Orthodox Council in Moscow, wishing to make the capital of the USSR the center of the entire Orthodox world. The US President, Harry Truman, however, supported the Ecumenical Patriarch, Athenagoras, who had taken a sharply anti-communist position. Therefore, from the middle of the 20th century, both the United States and the Soviet Union used their influence on the Orthodox Church to achieve their political goals. Once the USSR collapsed, independent states, including Russia and Ukraine, emerged from its ruins. In connection with Ukraine, some time ago, the confrontation in the religious sphere between the two powers resumed once again. The US supported the initiative of Kiev to create an independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which, by the Russian side, was perceived as a resumption of the confrontation between the two powers in the religious sphere. Using political influence in the Middle East and the Balkans, Moscow tried to organize its own coalition of Orthodox churches which would oppose the US influence. With the continuation of the Cold War between the US and Russia, the religious conflict in Ukraine and tensions in the global Orthodox community emerged once again. This paper examines the history of the religious factor in relations between the USSR and the USA as well as the current state of affairs.
Presenters
Aleksei V. AndreevLecturer, Religious Studies, Saint Tikhon's Orthodox University, Russian Federation
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Orthodoxy, Politics, Russia, Cold War, USSR, USA
