Dvasininkų veiklos ir finansų kontrolė vėlyvuoju sovietmečiu Kauno mieste

Abstract

Straipsnyje analizuojami dvasininkų veiklos ir finansų kontrolės būdai vėlyvuoju sovietmečiu Kauno mieste. Remiantis Kauno apskrities archyvo medžiaga atskleidžiama, kokiais metodais vietos valdžios institucijos naudojosi, bandydamos daryti įtaką tam tikroms dvasininkų veiklos sritims, pristatomi charakteringiausi pavyzdžiai

As the Constitution of the Lithuanian SSR of April 20, 1978 established the right of citizens to profess any religion, it also declared that state and schools are to be separated from the church. These clauses were enforced by assessing the activities of clergymen in society. To that end, Oversight committees for religious sect compliance under the city and regional executive committees of the Councils of the People’s Deputies were established, which were supposed to investigate the activities of clergymen according to set guidelines. These oversight committees would audit the activities clergymen carried out with children and youth, making sure that special services were not held for minors and that minors were not employed in the assistance of the clergy. The committees also ensured that no activities were aimed at parents, women and other special groups. A particular effort was made to identify the types of sermons delivered during service: whether the content was religious, political, on ethics and morality, and whether it conflated religion and nationality. The committees filed reports providing excerpts from specific sermons and identified the clergymen who delivered them. The committees were not only in charge of documenting violations but also had to take certain preventive measures – group and individual conversations with clergymen about lawful conduct during worship, lectures on such topics at places of employment, as well as meetings with school teachers. In addition to inspecting the content of religious activities, governmental institutions audited the finances of the church and clergy. Matters of property, financial resource management, its proper use and other issues were decided by the executive offices of the church and oversight committees. [...]