scholarly journals Life of Russian Orthodox Clergy in the United States at the End of the 19th Century (Reflected in the correspondence of the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev)

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-61
Author(s):  
V. V. Pechatnov

Using little-known correspondence of the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev with the bishop Nickolay (Ziorov) — head of Russian Orthodox Church in the United States in 1892–1898 — the article explores the everyday life of Russian clergy in America. This correspondence is deposited at the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg and has not been published or studied before. The author analyzes Pobedonostsev’s role in the diocese affairs. This examination is new both in the Church’s history and recently published literature on Pobedonostsev. Yet the Ober-Procurator’s supervision was of utmost importance for the Russian mission in the United States, faced with the crucial challenge of adapting itself to the alien cultural environment. Pobedonostsev was well informed about the situation with the Russian mission, helped to solve many personnel, financial and organizational problems, was a chief promoter of its interests before the Russian imperial government — Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Finance, the State Council, and the Tzar’s court. Pobedonostsev also stayed in touch with the US diplomatic mission in Russia and Russian diplomats in the United States. He was very close with bishop Nickolay who regarded the Ober-Procurator as his main benefactor and constantly turned to him for advice and assistance. Pobedonostsev strongly supported the bishop’s reforms of missionary activities in education, parish life, and propagation of Orthodoxy, as well as his efforts to defend the Russian Orthodox mission’s interests before American authorities. No wonder their extensive correspondence richly reflected the diocese’s life with all its problems and needs. The article highlights their close cooperation in recruiting qualified clergymen for American service, which was the key task for the mission that suffered from a shortage of reliable professional personnel. Pobedonostsev-Nickolay cooperation greatly contributed to the diocese progress, which later reached its peak under Nickolay’s successor bishop Tikhon (Bellavin). Their correspondence sheds new light on the personalities of both men united by their fervent devotion to the Orthodox Church and highly conservative views. It also presents a revealing case study of the interaction between Russian ecclesiastic and state authorities as well as their perception of American culture. The author’s main methodological approach consisted in text analysis of the archival documents juxtaposed against the context of Russian-American relations and the realities of American life.

Author(s):  
Philip Viktorovich Yuzlikeev

Due to the fact that the tradition of close relation between the Orthodox Church and the state has formed since the time of the Byzantine Empire, the reflection of foreign policy ambitions of the Greek government on the foreign activity of the Patriarchate of Constantinople seems absolutely justifiable. In the early XX century, North America was a center of Greek migration, and simultaneously, the territory of proliferation of the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church; therefore, the United States spark particular interest in this case. The Patriarch of Constantinople attempted to dispute the jurisdictional affiliation of the United States by issuing the corresponding tomos. This article is dedicated to interaction between the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Russian Orthodox Church in the territory of the United States during the 1908 – 1924. The author explores the influence of Greece upon the relationship between the two Orthodox jurisdictions in North America. The activity of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the United States is compared to political events of Greece. The history of Orthodoxy in the United States in the first quarter of the XX century is highly researched however, the actions of church organizations are not always viewed from the perspective of the foreign policy of the countries involved. The conclusion is made on the possible influence of the Greek governmental forces on the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which in turn, stepped into the jurisdictional conflict with the Russian Orthodox Church.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 249-253
Author(s):  
Alina Dzhanarovna Kamzina

The historical period considered in this paper is one of the important periods for the economic, political and spiritual development of the Russian state. The Orenburg Region at this stage was a multi-confessional region, where, despite the leading role of the Russian Orthodox Church, both non-Christian and Christian denominations, including a variety of old believers consent and sectarianism, were spread. In this regard, the anti-sectarian missionary activity of the official Orthodoxy aimed at both the old believers and sectarians became particularly relevant. Archival documents in the collections of Federal and regional archives form the basis of this problem study. The paper presents an overview of unpublished sources and their source analysis. The author analyses such groups of archival sources as statistical materials, records of management sources, among which a special place is occupied by the Governors and diocesan reports, documents of personal origin, legislative materials. Among these groups of sources, the most valuable ones are records of civil and spiritual departments. The review allows to conclude about the variety of types of archival documents and their various informative features. The presented classification is not final and can be supplemented.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-37
Author(s):  
N.V. Shvarts

The article is an overview of documents stored in the fund 796 - the Office of the Synod. This is one of the most significant funds of the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA), which makes it possible to more fully study the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia. This article presents an analysis of only one inventory - 143 for 1862. This is the year of the first trip of F.M. Dostoevsky abroad. The trip lasted from June 7 to August 24, and during these months, along with many European cities, the writer will visit Turin, Florence, Milan, Venice. Italy occupies a special place in F.M. Dostoevsky. The writer visited this country three times, and each of the travels was significant in its own way for Fyodor Mikhailovich. But it should not be denied that the impressions received by the writer in other countries undoubtedly shaped his opinions, which were subsequently reflected in the series of essays "Winter Notes on Summer Impressions." Events and possible meetings of F.M. Dostoevsky with compatriots living abroad or traveling will become more understandable when studying archival documents.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1036
Author(s):  
Sarah Riccardi-Swartz

This article explores the growing affinity for the post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church by far-right Orthodox converts in the United States, highlighting how the spiritual draw to the faith is caught up in the globalizing politics of traditionalism and a transnational, ideological reimaging of the American culture wars. Employing ethnographic fieldwork from the rural United States and digital qualitative research, this study situates the post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church in the international flows of conservativism focused on reclaiming social morals and traditional religiosity. In doing so, this article sheds light on how the post-Soviet Orthodox Church is viewed politically by a growing contingent of American religious and political actors who are turning to Russian Orthodoxy and Putin’s government during this New Cold War moment of tension between the United States and Russia. I argue that the allure of the post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church for conservatives in the West offers us a window into how the institution is situated imaginatively within transnational politics, thereby providing us insights into the rapidly transforming culture wars fomenting globally.


Sabornost ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 177-186
Author(s):  
Mile Subotić

Metropolitan Theophan Fan Noli was a leader of the Church both in America and his native Albania. He was a pioneer in calling for a united Orthodox Church in America and in the use of English in services. Noli began his life of service in the Church in the United States organizing Albanian parishes. With the Balkan Wars and the independence of Albania, Fan Noli devoted more of his time to the cause of Albania. He was Prime Minister of Albania in 1924. After a change in political climate, Bishop Theophan was forced to leave Albania. He was able to return to the United States in 1932. Upon arriving he retired from politics and resumed his duties as bishop of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America. Bishop Noli considered his Albanian Church as a daughter of the Russian Orthodox Church in America and looked to it for the creation of a single Orthodox Church in America. He continued to lead his flock and to advocate Orthodox unity until his death in 1965.


2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse D. Murray

Addressing Russian Orthodox missions in the Alaskan periphery of the Russian Empire, this article discusses the flexibility of Russian Orthodox missionaries in adapting concepts of Orthodoxy and Russianness to the circumstances of their mission in Alaska and to their individual experiences there. Consulting a range of missionary writings from 1794–1917, including reports, journals, letters, and articles in church periodicals, Murray assesses varying interpretations and methods of promoting the civilizing mission, christianization, and russification over the long nineteenth century. Efforts in education and promoting moral standards were vital to the missions but always incorporated respect for the native culture. Recognizing the importance of this periphery even after the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, the missionaries continued to perceive the converted Alaskan communities as tied to Russian Orthodox culture and identity and their educational and moral efforts as essential to the construction of good citizens for the new political power.


Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11 (109)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Vladimir Pechatnov

Based on previously unearthed documents from the Russia’s State Historical Archive and the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire the article explores the history of the first Russian Orthodox parish in New York City and construction of Saint-Nickolas Russian Orthodox Cathedral in the city. It was a protracted and complicated interagency process that involved Russian Orthodox mission in the United States, Russia’s Foreign Ministry and its missions in the United States, the Holy Governing Synod, Russia’s Ministry of Finance and the State Council. The principal actors were the bishops Nicholas (Ziorov) and especially Tikhon (Bellavin), Ober-Prosecutor of the Holy Governing Synod Konstantine Pobedonostsev and Reverend Alexander Khotovitsky. This case study of the Cathedral history reveals an interaction of ecclesiastical and civil authorities in which private and civic initiative was combined with strict bureaucratic rules and procedures.


Author(s):  
Konrad Kuczara

Relations between the Ukrainian Church and Constantinople were difficult. This goes back as far as 988, when the Christianisation of the Rus created a strong alliance between Kiev and the Byzantine Empire. There were times when Constantinople had no influence over the Kiev Metropolis. During the Mongolian invasion in 1240, the Ukranian region was broken up and Kiev lost its power. The headquarters of the Kiev Metropolis were first moved to Wlodzimierz nad Klazma in 1299 and then to Moscow in1325. In 1458 the Metropolis of Kiev was divided into two; Kiev and Moscow, but Kiev still remained under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Since that time, the orthodox hierarchs of Moscow no longer adhered to the title Bishop of Kiev and the whole of Rus and in 1588 the Patriarchate of Moscow was founded. In 1596 when  the Union of Brest was formed,  the orthodox church of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth was not liquidated. Instead it was formally revived in 1620 and in 1632 it was officially recognized by king Wladyslaw Waza. In 1686 the Metropolis of Kiev which until that time was under the Patriarchate of Constantinople was handed over to the jurisdiction of Moscow. It was tsarist diplomats that bribed the Ottoman Sultan of the time to force the Patriarchate to issue a decree giving Moscow jurisdiction over the Metropolis of Kiev. In the beginning of the 19th century, Kiev lost its Metropolitan status and became a regular diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. Only in the beginning of the 20thcentury, during the time of the Ukrainian revolution were efforts made to create an independent Church of Ukraine. In 1919 the autocephaly was announced, but the Patriarchate of Constantinople did not recognize it. . The structure of this Church was soon to be liquidated and it was restored again after the second world war at the time when Hitler occupied the Ukraine. In 1992, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Ukraine gained its independence, the Metropolitan of Kiev requested that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine becomes autocephalous but his request was rejected by the Patriarchate of Moscow. Until 2018 the Patriarchate of Kiev and the autocephalous Church remained unrecognized and thus considered schismatic. In 2018 the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople looked  into the matter and on 5thJanuary 2019, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine received it’s tomos of autocephaly from Constantinople. The Patriarchate of Moscow opposed the decision of Constantinople and as a result refused to perform a common Eucharist with the new Church of Ukraine and with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.


2020 ◽  
pp. 126-136
Author(s):  
Константин Рева

В настоящей статье предпринята попытка рассмотреть влияние Придворной певческой капеллы на развитие богослужебной практики Русской Православной Церкви в Синодальный период. После церковного раскола XVII в. продолжающееся развитие богослужебной практики не находило отражения в корпусе богослужебных книг. В XVII в. в Русской Церкви было два практически равновеликих по значению образцовых столичных хора: хор патриарших певчих дьяков и хор государевых певчих дьяков. С упразднением патриаршества и переносом столицы в Санкт¬-Петербург в Синодальный период истории Русской Православной Церкви Придворная певческая капелла стала главным церковным хоровым коллективом, основной обязанностью которого было пение за богослужением в придворных церквях. В XIX в. Придворная певческая капелла была на делена особыми административными правами в церковно-¬певческой сфере, связанны ми с цензурой церковно-¬певческих произведений и подготовкой церковных регентов. Исключительные права по изданию церковно¬-певческих книг в Русской Православной Церкви, закрепленные Святейшим Синодом за Придворной певческой капеллой, стали причиной широкого распространения литургических особенностей богослужения придворных церквей в Российской империи. Практика обязательной аттестации церковных регентов Придворной певческой капеллой усилила распространение не только её церковно-¬музыкальной традиции, но и придворного литургического порядка, что оказало существенное влияние на практику совершения кафедрального и приходского богослужения. Изучение богослужебной практики Русской Православной Церкви в XVIII-XX вв. немыслимо без учёта деятельности и наследия Придворной певческой капеллы. This article attempts to consider the influence of the Court Singing Chapel on the development of divine practice of the Russian Orthodox Church during the synodal period. After the Church split of the 17th century, the continuing development of liturgical practice was not re flected in the corpus of liturgical books. In the XVII century the Russian Church had two almost equal in importance exemplary Metropolitan choirs: the choir of Patriarchal singing deacons and the choir of sovereign singing deacons. With the abolition of the Patriarchate and the transfer of the capital to Saint Petersburg during the Synodal period of the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Court singing Capella became the main Church choral group, whose main duty was to sing at divine services in the court churches. In the 19th century, the Court singing chapel was giv en special administrative rights in the Church singing sphere related to the censorship of Church singing works and the training of Church Regents. The exclusive rights to publish Church sing ing books in the Russian Orthodox Church, which were assigned by the Holy Synod to the Court singing chapel, caused a wide spread of liturgical features of the service of court churches in the Russian Empire. The practice of mandatory certification of Church Regents by the Court singingchapel has increased the spread of not only its Church music tradition, but also the court liturgical order, which has had a significant impact on the practice of performing Cathedral and parish ser vices. The study of the liturgical practice of the Russian Orthodox Church in the XVIII-XX centuries is unthinkable without taking into account the activities and heritage of the court singing chapel.


2021 ◽  
pp. 275-294
Author(s):  
Marina S. Krutova ◽  

The Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library contains letters of Hegumen Ieron (worldly Ivan Nosov-Vasil’yev), Schemamonk Innokentiy (worldly last name — Sibiryakov) and Iosif the monk, the brethren of New Athos Monastery, named after Simon the Canaanean, to Archimandrite Leonid (worldly Lev Kavelin), Rector of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, a prominent scientist, a prominent scholar of the Russian Orthodox Church, one of the most enlightened priests of the 19th century. In 1885, the book “Abkhazia and New Athos Monastery, Named after Simon the Canaanean, in It” by Archimandrite Leonid was a real event. The published letters were written by the brethren of the monastery, people of different cultural levels; but they are all imbued with a sense of gratitude to the author, who wrote a book about their holy monastery, which they love and care about the improvement of. Hegumen Ieron’s letters contain numerous details about the opening of Pitsunda Monastery as a skete of New Athos Monastery, about the restoration of the ancient Pitsunda temple, about its beautification and the forthcoming consecration. Schemamonk Innokentiy’s letters provide detailed information about the history of the Monastery, as well as some cartographic data needed by Archimandrite Leonid for his book. Monk Iosif ’s letter contains details of the economic life of the monastery.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document