Lenin in the Mausoleum: A Pagan Cult in an 'Orthodox' State

The Mausoleum: Facts

What It Is

On Red Square in Moscow — the spiritual and political center of Russia — stands a mausoleum in which the embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin has lain since 1924.

Facts:

• The body has been embalmed with a special solution and maintained in a state of “freshness” for over 100 years
• A special laboratory (the Research Institute of Biological Structures) continuously maintains the body — replacing solutions, making corrections and “repairs”
• Millions of dollars are spent annually on maintenance (the exact sum is classified)
• The body is regularly “bathed” in a special solution — the procedure takes months
• Some body parts have been replaced with artificial ones (according to former laboratory employees)

Who Lenin Was and What He Did to Orthodoxy

Vladimir Lenin (Ulyanov, 1870–1924) — the founder of the Soviet Union, a committed atheist and enemy of religion. His direct quotes:

“Religion is the opium of the people” (after Marx)

“Every religious idea, every idea of God — is unspeakable vileness” (letter to Gorky, 1913)

What Lenin did to the church:

• 1918 — Decree on the Separation of Church and State: all church property confiscated
• 1921–1922 — Campaign to seize church valuables: gold, silver, icons, and precious frames were seized by force
• Lenin personally ordered the execution of clergy who resisted:

“The more representatives of the reactionary clergy we manage to shoot on this occasion, the better” (secret letter to Molotov, March 19, 1922)

• In the first years of Bolshevik rule, thousands of priests, monks, and nuns were killed
• The systematic destruction of churches began across all of Russia and Ukraine

Mummification vs. Christianity

What Orthodoxy Says

The Orthodox tradition is categorically opposed to mummification and preservation of bodies:

1. Burial in the ground — the only canonical method: “For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19)
2. The body must return to the earth — this is a fundamental principle of Christian burial
3. Mummification is associated with pagan practices (Ancient Egypt)
4. The Orthodox Church recognizes incorruptible relics of saints — but these are considered a miracle of God, not the result of chemical treatment
5. Artificial preservation of a body through chemical methods has nothing to do with “holy relics”

A Pagan Cult

The Lenin Mausoleum is essentially a pagan temple:

• Ziggurat — the architecture of the mausoleum resembles a Mesopotamian ziggurat (stepped pyramid), not a Christian church
• Ritual worship — lines of people pass by the body, as in ancient cults
• Eternal preservation — the idea of “eternal life” through embalming is Egyptian, not Christian
• Deification of the leader — a cult of personality incompatible with monotheism

Many researchers have noted this: the Lenin Mausoleum is an anti-Christian temple at the heart of a country that claims to be “the defender of Orthodoxy.”

The Scale of Church Destruction

Under Lenin and Stalin

The Bolsheviks carried out the greatest destruction of churches in history:

Period	What Happened
1917–1920	Confiscation of church property, first executions of clergy
1921–1922	Mass seizure of church valuables
1922–1923	Arrest and persecution of Patriarch Tikhon (placed under house arrest, died 1925)
1929–1930	Mass closure and demolition of churches
1931	Destruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (Russia’s largest cathedral!)
1930s	Destruction of thousands of churches across the USSR

Numbers:

• Before 1917, the Russian Empire had ~77,000 Orthodox churches and monasteries
• By 1939, fewer than 500 remained operational — meaning over 98% were destroyed
• Over 50,000 clergy were executed or died in labor camps
• Priceless icons, frescoes, and libraries accumulated over centuries were destroyed

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

A particularly symbolic example — the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow:

• Russia’s largest Orthodox cathedral
• Built over 44 years (1839–1883)
• Demolished by explosion on December 5, 1931 by Stalin’s order
• In its place, they planned to build the Palace of the Soviets (a gigantic building topped with a 100-meter statue of Lenin)
• The palace was never built — instead, the site became the Moskva Swimming Pool (an open-air pool)
• The cathedral was rebuilt in the 1990s — now Putin stands in it at Christmas and Easter

Putin: “Orthodoxy” as a Tool

The Cynicism

Putin is a former KGB officer — an organization that directly carried out the persecution of the church and believers. The KGB:

• Recruited clergy as agents
• Controlled appointments in the church hierarchy
• Persecuted dissident believers

Now Putin demonstrates performative piety:

• Stands with a candle at Easter
• Takes a dip in an ice hole at Epiphany (in front of cameras)
• Calls Russia a “defender of Orthodox values”

Meanwhile, the Lenin Mausoleum — containing the body of the man who destroyed the Orthodox Church — stands immovable on Red Square. During Victory Day parades, the mausoleum is decorated but not removed.

Why the Mausoleum Has Not Been Removed

Putin has repeatedly rejected proposals to bury Lenin. Why?

1. Electoral base — a significant portion of older Russians are nostalgic for the USSR; Lenin is a symbol of a “great power” for them
2. Fear of precedent — if Lenin is acknowledged to deserve burial, the crimes of the Bolsheviks would have to be acknowledged
3. Narrative control — Putin simultaneously exploits Soviet nostalgia and Orthodox rhetoric — burying Lenin would destroy this double game
4. Symbol of power — the mausoleum is a symbol of continuity of Russian imperial power: tsars > Lenin > Stalin > … > Putin

Comparison with Other Countries

Country	Dictator	Body Status
USSR/Russia	Lenin	Still in the mausoleum (101 years)
USSR	Stalin	Was in the mausoleum, removed 1961
China	Mao Zedong	In a mausoleum (but China does not claim to be “Orthodox”)
Vietnam	Ho Chi Minh	In a mausoleum (against his will to be cremated)
Bulgaria	Dimitrov	Body cremated 1990
Czechoslovakia	Gottwald	Body cremated 1962

Destruction of Churches in Ukraine

The Bolshevik terror against the church struck Ukraine with particular brutality:

• The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) — established 1921, liquidated 1930. Its hierarchs were arrested and executed
• The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) — banned in 1946 at the Lviv “council” (organized by the NKVD). All property was transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate. The church went underground for 43 years
• Thousands of churches across Ukraine were destroyed — ancient, Cossack-era, wooden architectural masterpieces
• The St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv (12th century!) was destroyed — rebuilt only in the 1990s

Conclusion

Russia, where:

• On the main square lies an embalmed atheist who destroyed the church
• The president is a former KGB officer whose agency persecuted believers
• Millions perished at the hands of a regime that fought religion
• The Orthodox Church is controlled by the state and blesses the war in Ukraine

— this Russia claims to be the “defender of Orthodox values” and the “spiritual center of the Slavic world.”

The Lenin Mausoleum is the perfect symbol of Russian hypocrisy: a pagan temple in the midst of an “Orthodox” state, where an embalmed enemy of Christianity is venerated as a shrine.