Underground
Many church members and clerics were opposed to Sergius in church doctrine and backed the stand of the new True Orthodox Church. Most of them tried to observe Soviet law. Yet the Soviet authorities had taken their stand in the dispute and were prepared to use whatever means necessary to bring the bishops under the control of their favorite, Sergius. This control by the Soviets caused True Orthodox Church eparchies (geographical areas under control of a bishop) and communities to go underground for the entire Soviet period.
In the 1970s and 1980s, many of these communities had lost their last bishops and many of their priests. They were forced to exist underground and celebrate services without a spiritual leader.
Read more about this topic: Russian True Orthodox Church
Famous quotes containing the word underground:
“Or as, when an underground train, in the tube, stops too long between stations
And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence
And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen
Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about....”
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“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.”
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“The only free road, the Underground Railroad, is owned and managed by the Vigilant Committee. They have tunneled under the whole breadth of the land.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)