The Russian Orthodox Church, 1917-1948
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The Russian Orthodox Church, 1917–1948 This book tells the remarkable story of the decline and revival of the Russian Orthodox Church in the fi rst half of the twentieth century and the astonishing U-turn in the attitude of the Soviet Union’s leaders toward the church. In the years after 1917 the Bolsheviks’ antireligious policies, the loss of the former western territories of the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union’s isolation from the rest of the world and the consequent separation of Russian émigrés from the church were disastrous for the church, which declined signifi cantly in the 1920s and 1930s. However, when Poland was partitioned in 1939 between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Stalin allowed the Patriarch of Moscow, Sergei, jurisdiction over Orthodox congregations in the conquered territories and went on, later, to encourage the church to promote patriotic activities as part of the resistance to the Nazi invasion. He agreed to a concordat with the church in 1943 and continued to encourage the church, especially its claims to jurisdiction over émigré Russian Orthodox churches, in the immediate postwar period. Based on extensive original research, the book puts forward a great deal of new information and overturns established thinking on many key points. Daniela Kalkandjieva is a researcher at the University of Sofi a, Bulgaria. Routledge religion, society, and government in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet States Series Editor Lucian Leustean is a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at Aston University and Associate Dean for Postgraduate Programmes in the School of Languages and Social Sciences, United Kingdom. This series seeks to publish high-quality monographs and edited volumes on religion, society, and government in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states by focusing primarily on three main themes: the history of churches and religions (including, but not exclusively, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism) in relation to governing structures, social groupings, and political power; the impact of intellectual ideas on religious structures and values; and the role of religions and faith-based communities in fostering national identities from the nineteenth century until today. The series aims to advance the latest research on these themes by exploring the multifaceted nature of religious mobilization at local, national, and supranational levels. It particularly welcomes studies that offer an interdisciplinary approach by drawing on the fi elds of history, politics, international relations, religious studies, theology, law, sociology, and anthropology. The Russian Orthodox Church and Human Rights Kristina Stoeckl The Russian Orthodox Church, 1917–1948 From decline to resurrection Daniela Kalkandjieva The Russian Orthodox Church, 1917–1948 From decline to resurrection Daniela Kalkandjieva First published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Taylor & Francis The right of Daniela Kalkandjieva to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-78848-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-76554-9 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Cenveo Publisher Services Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders for their permission to reprint material in this book. The publishers would be grateful to hear from any copyright holder who is not here acknowledged and will undertake to rectify any errors or omissions in future editions of this book. T o the memory of my mother, Radostina This page intentionally left bank Contents List of illustrations i x Acknowledgments x List of abbreviations xii Introduction 1 1 The dissolution of the Russian Orthodox Church (1917–1939) 12 2 The Sergian Church in the annexed territories (September 1939–June 1941) 65 3 The holy war of the Sergian Church 94 4 The Sergian Church and Western Christianity 150 5 The Moscow patriarchate restored 179 6 The growth of Moscow’s jurisdiction (1945–1946) 207 7 The Russian émigré churches beyond Stalin’s grasp (1945–1947) 240 8 The Moscow Patriarchate and the autocephalous Orthodox Churches outside the Soviet Union (1944–1947) 264 9 Toward an eighth ecumenical council (1944–1948) 307 viii Contents Conclusion 345 Bibliography 3 4 9 Index 3 5 9 Illustrations Figures 1.1 Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Rossia 14 1.2 Divisions and schisms in the Russian Orthodox Church (1917–1939) 53 2.1 Metropolitan Sergii (Starogorodskii), locum tenens of the Moscow Patriarchate (1927–1943) and Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ (1943–1944) 66 2.2 Metropolitan Sergii (Starogorodskii) at his working desk 66 2.3 Metropolitan Alexii (Simanskii), Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (1945–1970) 66 2.4 Metropolitan Nikolay (Yarushevich) 66 2.5 The Orthodox bishops of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Western Ukraine, and Western Belarus after their reunion with the Moscow Patriarchate in 1940 78 4.1 Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov), exarch of the Moscow Patriarchate in North America (1933–1947) 159 5.1 The hierarch participants in the Russian church council for the election of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ (September 8, 1943) 183 9.1 The Moscow Cathedral of the Epiphany in Yelokhovo, where the enthronements of Patriarch Sergii (1943) and Patriarch Alexii Simanskii (1945) took place 330 Maps 1.1 European state borders, 1914 54 2.1 European state borders, 1919–1939 88 8.1 European state borders, 1956 292 Tables 2.1 The bishops of the Sergian Church 86 3.1 Epistles and sermons of the Moscow patriarchate (June 22, 1941–September 7, 1943) 97 Acknowledgments The impetus for this book came from my doctoral thesis on “Ecclesio-Political Aspects of the International Activities of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1917–1948,” defended in 2004 at the Central European University in Budapest. In the subsequent years, I continued to explore the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, focusing my attention on its policy in the sphere of its jurisdiction and authority. I am indebted to many people for their help as I pursued the research for this book. First and foremost, I want to express deep gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Istvan Rév, for his belief in my dissertation project. I learned much from his passion for microhistory, eye for detail, and habit of questioning things that seem obvious at fi rst glance. This experience helped me not only in the writing of my dissertation but also in the accomplishment of this book. As a doctoral student I also benefi ted from the tutorials of Dr. Alex Pravda from St. Antony’s College, who supervised my work during my studies at the University of Oxford in 2000–2001. With his assistance, I succeeded in organizing my research in the British archives and libraries in a very effective way. While I was in Oxford, my work was also facilitated by the expertise of Dr. Dianne Kirby on Anglican– Russian Church relations during World War II. Furthermore, I owe special grati- tude to Prof. Thomas Bremer of the University of Muenster, whose thorough remarks on Russian church history and Orthodox ecclesiology helped me to be precise in the use of theological terminology in the present volume. For her help in the postdoctoral stage of my work on this book, I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Radmila Radiü for advising me on Russian–Serbian Church relations. I especially appreciate the comments of Dr. Lucian N. Leustean on my manuscript and his support for its publication. Another important stimulus for writing this book was the encouragement I received from my professors and colleagues at the Central European University, especially from Alfred Rieber, Roumen Daskalov, Nadia al-Bagadi, Irina Papkova, and Anca Sincan. I deeply value the studies of past and present generations of Russian church historians, to whom I am indebted in this work. The research for this book was conducted in a number of libraries and archives. I am very grateful to the staff of the Central European University Library, the Open Society Archives, the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, the Keston Institute, the Lambeth Palace Library, the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History Acknowledgments xi (RGASPI), the Bulgarian Central State Archives, and the Radboud University Nijmegen Library for their patience and professional assistance. In this regard, I want to thank in particular Malcolm Walker, the former librarian at the Keston Institute, who introduced me to the archives and periodicals of the Russian church exiles kept in this institute. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Josephien van Kessel, the librarian of the Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, who familiarized me with the rich collection of books on Russian church history at the Library of Radboud University Nijmegen. This research would have been impossible without the generous support of the Open Society Foundation, which facilitated my doctoral studies at the Central European University and the University of Oxford, as well as my work in Russian, British, and other foreign archives.