Continuity of Church Service and Orthodox Cultural Tradition at the Turn of the Soviet and Post-Soviet Periods

Abstract

The article is devoted to the disclosure of the content of the creative activities of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church in a crucial period of spiritual service at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries. During this period, the continuity of religious enlightenment culture was interrupted and needed restoration in order to preserve church culture and art for future generations. In the twentieth century — the century of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, when persecution and oppression in varying degrees affected the fate of every Orthodox Christian, preserved and survived examples of theological and spiritual educational work they represent a special value, which should be available for the study of modern citizens of Russia and, above all, young people. Spiritual mentors and elders of the past century, who have undergone persecution, but survived and managed to directly convey to their spiritual children their own inner experience of God communion and an example of asceticism — the great wealth of not only domestic, but also world spiritual culture. In the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the names of many representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, true devotees of grace, shone with their spiritual experience, wise mentorship and literary works helping thousands of people of different classes to gain faith and the true meaning of earthly existence.