Russian Orthodoxy on the Eve of Revolution Russian Orthodoxy on the Eve of Revolution
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RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY ON THE EVE OF REVOLUTION RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY ON THE EVE OF REVOLUTION VERA SHEVZOV 2004 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shevzov, Vera. Russian Orthodoxy on the eve of revolution / Vera Shevzov. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-515465-7 1. Russkaia pravoslavnaia tserkov'—History. 2. Russia—Church history—1801–1917. 3. Laity—Russkaia pravoslavnaia tserkov'—History. I. Title. BX491.S54 2003 281.9′47′09041—dc21 2002042510 135798642 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Dedication For my husband and children—John, Nina, and Anya— and my parents—Nina and Theodore Acknowledgments Like many of the icons I write about, books, too, have their stories. The story of this book is a long one that began in 1988, when, during my years in graduate school at Yale University, I spent a year and a half at the St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) Theological Academy. Since then, I have met many people who have assisted and encouraged me in my efforts and thereby contributed to this book's making. I am pleased finally to move my gratitude from the transient field of oral history to the more permanent written word. When I began working on this project, Gregory Freeze encouraged me to take on a local study. Considering that it was still before the fall of the Soviet Union, his proposal was challenging. It was difficult enough for foreign scholars to get themselves settled in Moscow or St. Petersburg in order to work in central archives, to which they did not always receive full access. The bureaucratic maze through which one would have to pass to get to the provinces for any lengthy stay seemed too complicated to take on. The time I spent at the Leningrad Theological Academy did much to further the bibliographical and archival work that made my future research more productive. I thank the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, and Fr. Michael Roshak, for making my stay possible. I thank Metropolitan Kiril (Gundiaev) and the office of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, as well as the former dean of the Academy, Fr. Vladimir Sorokin, for accommodating me. The late deacon Andrei Chizhov and Fr. Markell Vetrov facilitated travel and permissions. I am also grateful to Alexander Anatol'ievich Alexeev, who aided me in obtaining archival access in the years when such access was still a problem. Thanks to him, I was able not only to work in archives in St. Petersburg but also to make my first trip to a provincial archive, namely, the one in Kursk. Although that archive turned out not to house the types of sources that I was seeking, I was grateful for the opportunity to meet several wonderful people in Kursk and to witness Orthodoxy as it was being lived at the grassroots. I thank the bishop of Kursk, Iuvenalii, for the hospitality he extended during that trip. Things changed considerably in the two years that passed from my stay at the Theological Academy to the year of research on a grant from the International Research and Exchanges Board in 1991–92. In particular, the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991 paved the way for a more open society, one in which access to archives became less complicated and less vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS guarded. Serafima Igorevna Varekova at the Russian State Historical Archive and Valentina Petrovna Ivanova of the Russian Museum of Ethnography, which houses the invaluable Tenishev archive, facilitated my research in these two archives. In terms of regional work, I had decided to focus my research on the diocese of Vologda, since its archival holdings were reputedly very good and indeed turned out to be so. B. V. Ananich of the St. Petersburg branch of the Institute of History provided crucial assistance with living arrangements in Vologda. I am also grateful to the staff of the State Archive of the Vologda Region. They accommodated me in every way possible. In Vologda itself, I could not have managed without the aid of V. A. Sablin of the Vologda Pedagogical Institute. Not only did he introduce me to Vologda and its surrounding areas but he also made my trip to Totma possible. I went there to read the diaries of a peasant, A. A. Zamaraev. Although those diaries have subsequently been published, there was a beauty in reading them in the original and in the place where A. A. wrote. I very much enjoyed the company of the staff at the Totma Regional Museum whose daily teas were a welcome break. While the initial task of focusing on a single diocese was helpful in narrowing my source base, it became apparent to me that many of the themes and issues I was investigating reached beyond not only geographical confines but also immediate historical concerns. In particular, the topic of “popular” or “lived” Orthodoxy as I had come to understand it was really more about the Church itself and what it meant to belong to it. This was in many ways a new topic. It called for rethinking the material I had already read and for finding other sources that could further illuminate the story of the workings of that phenomenon called “church.” I embarked on several more years of research before writing the book. Serafima Igorevna at the Russian State Historical Archive assisted me in ordering copies of materials from which I could work while continuing to teach. Similarly, Olga Anatol'evna Rodionova has been instrumental in helping me with bibliographic work. At the eleventh hour, several museums and archives have helped to provide photographs. In particular, I thank Ludmila Borisovna Uritskaya from the Russian Museum of Ethnography, the staff at the Central State Archive of Cine- and Photo- Documents, the staff of the Office of Internal Book Exchange at the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, the director of the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg, Aleksandr Rostislavovich Sokolov, and Tat'iana Aleksandrovna Kulakova, the director of Vologda's regional archive. I also thank Olga Anatol'evna Poliakova from the Kolomenskoe State Museum Reserve and Maria A. Aleksandrova from the Tretyakov Gallery. In the United States, the staff at St. Anne's Shrine in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, Gary Hollingsworth of Hollingsworth Fine Arts, and Dr. Robin Jones graciously provided photographs of icons of the Mother of God from their private collections. I also thank the staff of the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress for helping me to secure photographs from the Prokudin-Gorskii Collection. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii As anyone who has spent any length of time in Russia knows, it is almost impossible to survive there on one's own. Several friends offered encouragement and help in priceless ways. Nataliia Gorelova, Sergei Zimin, Fr. Boris Pivovarov, and Olga Anatol'ieva Rodionova saw me through many difficult moments and spent time discussing my work as well. Fr. Nikolai Chemodanov, Nikolai Stepanov (now bishop Tikhon of Arkhangelsk), and Sergei Popov (now bishop Ioann of Belgorod) often creatively challenged my thinking about the phenomenon called “church.” Irina Mol'skaia and Feliks Solomonik graciously shared their home with me when, during my year of research, my housing arrangements suddenly fell through. Ivan Steblin-Kamensky went out of his way to facilitate my access to the Tenishev archive at a time when access was not easy to obtain. Mentors and colleagues here in the United States, too, have provided much appreciated support and cheer. Paul Bushkovitch, Jaroslav Pelikan, and Mark Steinberg have seen the project from its earliest stages and have offered helpful advice, often on short notice. Kosara Gavrilovic read and commented on an early draft. Paul Valliere offered invaluable comments on the book's introduction and its first chapter. The study of Orthodoxy has been developing at a steady pace among historians of Russia. Although I have changed paths by working more in religious studies than in history per se, I am grateful for the continued collegiality of Chris Chulos, Eugene Clay, Robert Geraci, Nadieszda Kizenko, and Laurie Manchester, who were neighbors and friends during the 1991–92 IREX trip and who themselves have worked on significant aspects of Russian Orthodoxy. I have also benefited from conversations or correspondence over the years with Stephen Batalden, Heather Coleman, Nikolaos Chrissides, Laura Engelstein, Gregory Freeze, David Goldfrank, Valerie Kivelson, Eve Levin, Brenda Meehan, Roy Robson, Jennifer Spock, Olga Tsapina, William Wagner, and Christine Worobec. I extend special gratitude to Laurie Manchester not only as a constructive critic but also as a supportive and dear friend. I also am very grateful to many people at Smith College, my intellectual home. From the members of my department to the administration, I have found only unwavering support and generosity. In particular, I would like to thank John Connolly, first dean of the faculty, then provost, and finally acting president, for regularly responding to research needs, ranging from the allocation of more resources for interlibrary loan materials to funds for research assistance and microfilming costs.