Editing Russian Orthodox Church (section)

====Persecution under Khrushchev====
A new and widespread persecution of the church was subsequently instituted under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev. A second round of repression, harassment and church closures took place between 1959 and 1964 when [[Nikita Khrushchev]] was in office. The number of Orthodox churches fell from around 22,000 in 1959 to around 8,000 in 1965;<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tsarist and Communist Russia 1855–1964|last=Sally|first=Waller|date=30 April 2015|isbn=9780198354673|edition= Second |location=Oxford|oclc=913789474}}</ref> priests, monks and faithful were killed or imprisoned{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} and the number of functioning monasteries was reduced to less than twenty.

Subsequent to Khrushchev's ousting, the Church and the government remained on unfriendly terms{{Vague|reason=What characterised it as unfriendly? Also its unscientific term|date=April 2023}} until 1988. In practice, the most important aspect of this conflict was that openly religious people could not join the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], which meant that they could not hold any political office. However, among the general population, large numbers{{Clarify|reason=Needs statistics|date=April 2023}} remained religious.

Some Orthodox believers and even priests took part in the [[dissident]] movement and became [[prisoner of conscience|prisoners of conscience]]. The Orthodox priests [[Gleb Yakunin]], Sergiy Zheludkov and others spent years in Soviet prisons and exile for their efforts in defending freedom of worship.<ref>"Dissent in the Russian Orthodox Church," ''Russian Review'', Vol. 28, N 4, October 1969, pp. 416–27.</ref> Among the prominent figures of that time were Dmitri Dudko<ref name="Dudko">{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/fr-dmitry-dudko-550017.html|title=Fr Dmitry Dudko|date=30 June 2004|work=[[The Independent]]|accessdate=25 December 2022}}</ref> and [[Alexander Men|Aleksandr Men]]. Although he tried to keep away from practical work of the dissident movement intending to better fulfil his calling as a priest, there was a spiritual link between Men and many of the dissidents. For some of them he was a friend; for others, a godfather; for many (including [[Yakunin]]), a spiritual father.<ref>''Keston Institute and the Defence of Persecuted Christians in the USSR''</ref>{{Obsolete source|date=April 2023}}{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2023}}

According to [[Vladimir Bogoyavlensky|Metropolitan Vladimir]], by 1988 the number of functioning churches in the [[Soviet Union]] had fallen to 6,893 and the number of functioning convents and monasteries to just 21.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dunlop |first=John B. |date=December 1990 |title=The Russian Orthodox Church and nationalism after 1988 |url=https://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/rcl/18-4_292.pdf |journal=Religion in Communist Lands |language=en |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=292–306 |doi=10.1080/09637499008431483 |issn=0307-5974}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bell |first1=Helen |last2=Ellis |first2=Jane |date=December 1988 |title=The millennium celebrations of 1988 in the USSR |url=https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/rcl/16-4_292.pdf |journal=Religion in Communist Lands |language=en |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=292–328 |doi=10.1080/09637498808431389 |issn=0307-5974}}</ref> In 1987 in the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], between 40% and 50% of newborn babies (depending on the region) were baptized. Over 60% of all deceased received Christian funeral services.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}