The article is devoted to the anti-religious activities of Soviet atheists in the 1920s. 20th century. The problem of the use of the negative image of Orthodox monasteries in anti-religious propaganda, the desacralization of which was an important part of the anti-religious propaganda of the period under study, is considered. The Soviet public organization "Union of Militant Atheists" played a direct role in this direction of anti-religious propaganda. This public structure published not only the newspaper Bezbozhnik, which was the leading print organ specializing specifically in the aggressive propaganda of atheism, but also a whole range of anti-religious literature. In particular, the book of the Soviet atheist N. A. Semenov's "Holy Mount Athos" was aimed precisely at the desacralization of Athos, which in the mass Orthodox consciousness was an authoritative center of Orthodox monasticism and the location of a number of well-known Orthodox shrines. It is for this reason that the author of the book set the goal of negatively consecrating the life and way of life of the monks of Athos in the eyes of readers. This article analyzes numerous cases of negative mention of Orthodox monasteries in Soviet propaganda publications of the Union of Militant Atheists. The book by N. A. Semenov "Holy Mount Athos", as an example of an attempt to desacralize Orthodox monasteries in the public consciousness. The history of the anti-religious policy of the Soviet state is studied. When writing the article, the author used the historical-systemic method of cognition and the principle of historicism.
