Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency JPRS translation reproduces an interview published in the Soviet journal Sotsiologicheskiye Issledovaniya, signed to press on 8 July 1988. In it, deputy chief editor Gennadiy Batygin talks with Innokentiy, a teacher at the Leningrad seminary. The conversation takes place during the millennium of the Christianization of Russia. They discuss religion under glasnost and perestroyka, ideological prohibitions, the shortage of Bibles, preservation of church monuments and the position of believers in Soviet society. The document contains no UFO material.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
## UNCLASSIFIED Concatenated JPRS Reports, 1989 Document 2 of 3 Page 1 Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Status: [STAT] Document Date: 08 Jul 88 Category: [CAT] Report Type: JPRS Report Report Date: Report Number: JPRS-USS-89-004 UDC Number: Author(s): SOTSIOLOGICHESKIYE ISSLEDOVANIYA deputy chief editor Gennadiy Batygin; time and place not specified] Headline: 'The Time Is Favorable...' A Conversation with a Priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Source Line: 18060002 Moscow SOTSIOLOGICHESKIYEISSLEDOVANIYA in Russian No 4, Jul-Aug 88 (signed to press 8 Jul 88) pp 38-49 Subslug: [Interview with Innokentiy, candidate of theology, teacher at the Leningrad Seminary for Monastic Priests, by SOTSIOLOGICHESKIYE ISSLEDOVANIYA deputy chief editor Gennadiy Batygin; time and place not specified] FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE: 1. [Text] In 1988 at the initiative of UNESCO, not only Christians but also people of various religious and political convictions mark the millennium of the Christianization of Russia (988-1988). This date is is propitious occasion for thinking realistically about the problems of religious life in the USSR. As is known, the basic principles and practice of its state regulation were established in circumstances that were most unfavorable for realism. This is exactly why up to now it has been very difficult to eliminate the 'zone of silence'' that has existed here and to call a spade a spade. A mutual desire to deal with this complexity was expressed at the meeting between CPSU Central Committee General Secretary M.S. Gorbachev and the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, Pimen, and members of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. 2. Public interest is growing in questions of the interrelationship between religion and culture, ethics and politics. Under the conditions of glasnost and the open clash of viewpoints, a re-evaluation of the cultural-historical legacy is taking place and new hopes are being born. A dialogue on these problems is held by doctor of philosophical sciences, deputy chief editor of SOTSIOLOGICHESKIYE ISSLEDOVANIYA, Gennadiy Batygin and candidate of theology, teacher at the Leningrad Seminary for Monastic Priests, Innokentiy. 3. [Batygin] Your Reverence, first of all I would like to say a few words about why I asked you to hold this conversation. Then I was still a student in the philosophy faculty at the Moscow State
Not linked to a story yet.
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 19 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.