The Religious Icon’s Influence on Christianity in Communist Russia

Abstract

The Orthodox faith, an integral part of Russia’s culture since 988, has shown its spiritual resiliency in battling through Revolutions, political persecutions, and differing idealistic regimes, all challenging Orthodoxy’s mere existence. The religious icon, utilized by Orthodox Christians as a pathway of prayer to God, has been instrumental as a tool of worship, giving guidance and strength to those who have chosen to worship God through this deific image. An oral history from Orthodoxy who lived in the Eastern Bloc during the Communist realm and atheistic rule of the twentieth century provides detail of the reliance on the religious icon during this period, giving spiritual strength to endure this tumultuous period in our history. The oral history also provides insight into how folk tradition, home worship, and paganistic rituals, through the veneration of the icon, created a dependence on the icon that continues today.