1922 seizure of church valuables in Russia

Subject to confiscation or articles intended exclusively for liturgical purposes (holy chalices), which is set in a very vulnerable position of the clergy, and caused the resistance of the congregation.

[2] The decree ordered the local organs of Soviet power to remove from the churches all products made of gold, silver and precious stones and supposedly transfer them to the Central Fund for the Relief of the Starving.

Shooting down of religious processions are well documented in Voronezh, Shatsk (Tambov province), and Tula (where thirteen were killed and many wounded, including Bishop Kornilii).

[citation needed] In retaliation the regime arrested and killed dozens of bishops, thousands of the lower clergy and monastics, and multitudes of laity.

[6] In a secret March 19, 1922 letter to the Politburo, Lenin expressed an intention to seize several hundred million golden roubles for famine relief.

[7] Richard Pipes argued that the famine was used politically as an excuse for the Bolshevik leadership to persecute the Orthodox Church, which held significant sway over much of the peasant populace.