Final Document of the Second Conference on “The History of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th Century”(1930-1948)

Final Document of the Second Conference on
“The History of the Russian Orthodox Church
in the 20th Century”(1930-1948)

A conference on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20^th century took place at the Synodal Library of the Moscow Patriarchate (St. Andrew Monastery, Moscow) on 13-16 November 2002. Last year a similar conference was held in the city of Szentendre, Hungary. Participants in the conference were clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, who arrived with the blessing of their church leadership, as well as historians. 25 lectures were delivered by researchers from Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Novosibirsk), Latvia, Germany and the USA (Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Jordanville).

The conference focused on the following themes:

History of Russian Communities, Especially in the Far East, the Holy Land, Baltic Countries, North America and the Balkans.

Problems of Jurisdictional Splits in the Russian Orthodox Church at Home and Abroad.

Problems of the Existence of the Orthodox Church under Totalitarian Regimes.

Situation of the Orthodox Church During World War II.

Attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church to Ecumenism.

Repression by the Atheistic Regime and the Feat of Russian New Martyrs and Confessors.

While discussing these themes the participants stressed that a number of the settled stereotypes hampers to reveal the truth of Church history. The ambiguously understood terms caused some contradictions.

The speakers referred to historical sources, which have not been used.

During the period in question the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, being at relative liberty to express her position, gave a theological appreciation of the anti-Christian nature of the Communist ideology.

A certain difference of opinion among the participants became apparent in the discussion of political positions the hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad took during World War II. There was a consensus that the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, being under the yoke of atheistic totalitarian regime, were forced to compromise with the government. Nevertheless, the Church managed to preserve the purity of her doctrine and canonical order under those difficult conditions.

The study of life and works of Russian Orthodox hierarchs as well as their important, though differently appreciated experience of preserving church life in the atheistic states was recognized as an important field of research.

The participants stressed that the attempts of the Nazi leaders to split the Church into the isolated and even confronting ecclesiastical formations encountered the inner resistance of the Church.

The faithful of the Russian Church at home and in the diaspora sometimes had different visions of their service to Russia. However, they evidently trusted Divine Providence and believed in the inner power of the Russian people.

The participants discussed examples of using the Church by the state for propaganda aims that took place in the acute confrontation among political systems.

The importance of a comprehensive study of the church witness in the atheistic setting and especially the feat of the new martyrs and confessors was emphasized. This task becomes increasingly realizable as the access to materials of investigative cases and other archive documents expands.

Also, the contribution of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad to preserving the Russian traditional piety and Orthodox shrines was emphasized.

The continuation of such conferences was recognized as desirable.

Moscow
November 3/16, 2002