On the issue of the anti-church trials of the Moscow Revolutionary Tribunal of the 1918–1920s (the сase of priest Mikhail Sakharov)

Abstract

The article considers the mechanisms of the repressive anti-church state policy of the Soviet government, which began its formation immediately after the October Revolution, using the case example of the Moscow Provincial Revolutionary Tribunal of 1918 against the rector of the St. George Church of the village of Vanilovo in the Ashitkov parish of the Bronnitsky district of the Moscow province, Father Mikhail Sakharov. The case was based on the incident with the beating of the Bronnitsky district Commissioner of Education, who wished to explain to residents the essence of the decree on the separation of Church and state. Even though the case materials incontrovertibly testified that the priest was not involved in the incident, he was convicted together with the participants of the beating as the initiator of the violence that occurred. The article emphasizes the political bias of the prosecution and its direct connection with the decree “On the Red Terror” proclaimed in September 1918. The latter, among other things, is confirmed by the fact that investigative actions in the case did not begin immediately after the beating of the commissioner in February 1918, but only in October. It is also noted that the practice characteristic of several cases of the Moscow Revolutionary Tribunal is the gradual mitigation of initially harsh sentences up to a full amnesty of convicts.