Divine apostasy as a radical change in the traditional religiosity of the ukrainian peasantry (1920s – early 1930s)

The rejection of faith in God (from religious beliefs) is usually an extremely radical, emotional step that a man can dare. As a rule, it occurs under radical external influence (pressure). In the proposed article, the authors intend to trace the peculiarities of the failure of part of the Ukrainian peasants who lived on the territory of the USSR in the 1920s – early 1930s, from traditional religious (Christian) beliefs. However, this process was not so unambiguous. Many rural people have only formally refused (or mimicked such a refusal) their convictions. The purpose of the study is to find out the real result of the accelerated conversion of believers to the predominantly orthodox denomination atheists. At the same time, the authors pay particular attention to the cultural microclimate of the village, as well as the nature and methods of the Bolshevik regime's influence on it. The peculiarity of the methodology of the problem research is a prosopographic analysis, which involves studying the peasant's vital strategy as a kind of compromise between the individual and social history of the village. In the process of systematic study of sources, the authors succeeded in finding out that the phenomenon of God's apostasy among peasants has historically specific reasons. The policy of spreading atheistic (communist) ideas, so to speak, «peaceful means» for a long time did not bring the results expected by the authorities. In this respect, the process of rejection of religious beliefs was evolutionary and was conditioned by the formation of an industrial society. The situation has changed dramatically, when ruling and constantly strengthening its dictatorship, the Bolshevik party launched a large-scale offensive «across the front». It turned out that God «defeated» the fear of man for his life and hunger. Synchronously, the peasants perceived the ideas of communism. The novelty of the results obtained is that both processes can not be considered consistent and radical: in spite of the revealed cruelty, faith in the Most High has not been completely overcome, as the ideas of scientific communism have not «sprouted» in the heads of people at the level of profound knowledge of Marxism-Leninism. There was a kind of hybrid in which the leading party took the place of the Lord. To overcome the traditional religiosity of the Ukrainian peasantry, the Bolsheviks succeeded only in the methods of brutal violence against people, mass repressions and physical harassment.