The article is focused on the essence of political and legal transformations, that brought about the changes in the Russian Orthodox church as a political and legal subject of law under the Soviet state. The article explores the state-church relations mechanisms under the influence of atheist propaganda and «scientific communism». It also defines the key political and legal grounds for the church modernization, which, in many respects, form the current position of the mentioned organization at the contemporary stage of the development of Russia.
