Поврат или приемственост. Динамика в отношенията между църква и държава в комунистическа България
Turning Point or Continuity. Dynamics in the Church-State Relations in the Communist Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: The article questions the applicability of two popular explanatory paradigms regarding relations between the Bulgarian communist state and the Orthodox Church, namely, the caeasaropapist concept and the notion of existence of turning point after which the Church was marginalized by the state. Based on several statistical indicators for the Church life in the communism - the correlation between objects and agents of the State Security within the Synod of the Church, the tendencies for the main religious rituals, and the reduction of the number of the parish priests – the article concludes that a real turn of the state policy to the church happened at late 1960s and early 1970s. The new policy led to the gradual alienation of the population from the Church, which became visible in the last two decades of the communist period.

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