The paper deals with the issue of the most stable lay religious practices that were complied by the certain part of population during the rule of L. I. Brezhnev. Despite the complex of restrictive measures executed by the state authorities with a goal to tear the population away from the religious institutions, there is no evidence during the examined period of the decline in practicing of religious rituals. The most widespread practices that caused discontent of the authorities still remained church burial and baptism. The changes in the liturgical service of the performed ritual, as well as variations in the choice of a place or time, evoked apprehension on the one hand from the side of atheistic authorities, because it demonstrated the resources for adaptation of the religious institutes to the changing social realities. On the other hand, the reflecting Church circles were suspicious towards any changes because of the threat of loss of the sense of the performed sacraments. The study shows, how the civil authorities were trying to limit the participation of population in the church ceremonies appealing to the episcopate to regulate the activity of parish clergy who participated in illegal, unacceptable from the point of view of the authorities, ritual practices.