Church History
Soviet Persecution of the Church
The most devastating persecution in Christian history. The Bolsheviks killed thousands of clergy and monastics, destroyed 50,000+ churches, closed all monasteries, confiscated all church property, and tried to eradicate religion. New Martyrs of the 20th century number in the hundreds of thousands. Despite this, the Church survived underground and in the catacombs.
Sources
- Dimitri Pospielovsky, The Russian Church Under the Soviet Regime 1917-1982
- Alexander Yakovlev, A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia