SOVIET PATRIOTIC AGENDA AS PART OF THEOLOGICAL TRAINING OF ORTHODOX CLERGY WITHIN THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF STATE-RELIGIOUS RELATIONS IN THE USSR (1940–1950)

Abstract

This article examines the "Soviet" patriotic component in the curricula of the Russian Orthodox Church's theological schools during the 1940s and 1950s. It argues that this component significantly influenced the formation of the legal consciousness of the Orthodox clergy in the USSR, thereby shaping the cognitive framework of the Church as a social institution within the post-war system of state-religious relations. The study synthesizes available data on the organization of patriotic education in theologi-cal seminaries and academies. It assesses the impact of this education on the legal consciousness of the Orthodox clergy and, more broadly, on the "collective representations" within the Church. Furthermore, it explores the connection between the ROC's patriotic narratives and its process of institutional adaptation to the new system of legal regulation governing state-religious relations in the USSR. The methodological approach draws on the theoretical frameworks of Douglass North's (1920–2015) neo-institutional theory, institutional legal theory, and the anthropological version of institutional analysis developed by Mary Douglas (1921–2007). The integration of patriotic education into the ROC's theological schools served as an in-strument for co-opting state discourse into the Church's legal consciousness. Thus, the system of theological schools contributed to the formation of the overarching Soviet myth promoted by communist ideology. As a result, these "collective representations" legitimized the image of Soviet power and forged a state identity among the faithful alongside their religious one. This process enabled the ROC to demonstrate its loyalty to the state and gradually expand the boundaries of the permissible within the established post-war legal framework regulating reli-gious affairs.