Nõukogude esiateisti kujunemisloost: Aleksander Ossipovi elu ja tegevus Eestis
On the Early Years of a Leading Soviet Atheist: Alexander Osipov’s Life and Activities in Estonia

Summary/Abstract: Orthodox priest and professor of theology Alexander Osipov (1911–1967) became one of the leading atheist writers and lecturers in the Soviet Union after his public renunciation of faith in 1959. Several biographical treatises on him have been authored in Russia but very little has been written about his youth as a promising priest and researcher in Estonia. Supported by Osipov’s early writings and original documents from Estonian archives, the article reveals his important role in the missionary and publishing activities of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church in the late 1930s and offers a fact check on his ideologically motivated autobiography from 1960 but fails to find any detectable traces of emerging dissatisfaction with religion and church in this early period.

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