Russia at war 1941-1945

printed and illustrated volume called The Truth about Religion in Russia. Its flyleaf claimed that 50,000 copies had been printed. The Central Committee itself had not

produced such a typographical masterpiece for years; there was obviously a great deal behind this publication. It was certainly intended partly for foreign consumption.

Much of the book had been written (or purported to have been written) by Father Sergius, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, and locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne since the death of the Patriarch Tikhon in 1925. Although Tikhon's anti-Soviet attitude was well known, Sergius nevertheless recalled that, according to Tikhon, the "Soviet order means the rule of the people... and is, therefore, firm and unshakable". Sergius further recalled (a rather piquant touch) that Tikhon had "explicitly condemned" the schism in the Orthodox Church, brought about by the Karlovite sect, who for years had waged war against the Metropolitan Evlogi of Paris, the head of the "true" Russian church in Western Europe.

[Named after Karlovac in Yugoslavia, a centre of violently anti-Moscow religious

activity among the White-Russian émigrés. See W. Kolarz, Religion in the Soviet Union, p. 41 (London 1961).]

The Karlovites were émigré extremists who later identified themselves with the teachings of Hitler. The Orthodox Church, as represented by Sergius, was the old Russian Church, but deprived of the financial and other earthly privileges it had enjoyed under the Tsars.

In the old days the Tsar himself had been head of the Church; but the separation of

Church and State was, in Sergius's opinion, all to the good.

This attack on the "Karlovites" was in fact a disguised attack on Father Vvedensky's

"Living Church" which had created a schism, not among the émigrés, but in Russia itself.

This Living Church had been encouraged by Lunacharsky and other members of the

Soviet government in the early years of the Revolution. This attack on "schisms" in 1942

clearly showed that the Soviet Government was willing to throw Vvedensky and his

"Living Church" overboard; it had, indeed, been a failure; people went to a Vvedensky church only when there was no "real" church in the neighbourhood. The "Living Church"

was, indeed, to be disbanded in 1943. It went, as it were, into voluntary liquidation, with Vvedensky recanting, and its priests and bishops submitting to the authority of Sergius, who was elected Patriarch in 1943.

The disappearance of the Vvedensky Church was in the logic of things: it was important to the Soviet Government that there should be only one Russian Church.

In The Truth about Religion in Russia Sergius wrote that the loss by the Church and the monasteries of land and other property did not denote persecution, but "a return to Apostolic times when priests pursued their profession... more in accordance with the teachings of Christ." The separation of Church and State had had a purifying effect on the Church; now only true believers went to church, and nominal Christians had dropped out.

No doubt he regretted that communists should "adhere to the anti-religious standpoint". It was certain, however, that anti-religious propaganda had been in decline for several years past, and had disappeared completely since the beginning of the war.

Since the beginning of the war, Sergius went on, the attitude of the Church had been clearer than ever. It rejected absolutely Hitler's "crusade" for its liberation. Although no priests were attached to the Red Army, the Church constantly prayed for this Army, and also said innumerable prayers for individual soldiers at their families' request. In their sermons Russian churchmen now constantly referred to the Nazis as the successors of

"the foul hounds"—the Teutonic Knights, whom St Alexander Nevsky, the patron saint of Leningrad, had routed in 1242 on the ice of Lake Peipus.

Sergius went on to say that he had recently addressed an Epistle to the Orthodox faithful in occupied territories, telling them that they must never forget that they were Russians and that they must do nothing, wittingly or unwittingly, while under the German yoke, which would be a betrayal of their homeland.

He also said that the Church had proved its patriotic fervour not only in words, but also in deeds; it was helping the Red Army not only with prayers, but also with gifts and

collections. Thus the Holy Trinity Church at Gorki had recently collected a million

roubles for the Defence Fund.