Russia at war 1941-1945

The book also devoted much space to the "chaos" in the Orthodox Church abroad. Those who saw eye to eye with the Russian Church, it said, were dismissed or persecuted by the Germans: this was true of Gabriel, Patriarch of Serbia, of Chrysanthos, Metropolitan of Athens, and Stefan, the Bulgarian Metropolitan, "who because of his great sympathy for the patriotism of the Russian Orthodox Church," had fallen into disfavour with the Germans and was "frequently attacked in the pro-Nazi press."

Great sympathy for the patriotism of the Russian Church has also been shown by

the Near-Eastern Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, as well as by

Benjamin Fedchikov, Metropolitan of the Aleutians and North America [who

represented the Moscow Patriarchate under that picturesque title in the United

States]. He has worked steadily in favour of American aid to Russia, despite the

Theophilites, an Orthodox sect, who have been engaged in anti-Soviet propaganda,

and have been urging President Roosevelt to send an ultimatum to the Soviet

Government demanding guarantees of "religious freedom" in Russia after the war.

The book further contained a sharp attack on certain "church quislings", notably in the Ukraine, who, after accepting the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate, were now

serving Hitler in fostering Ukrainian "nationalism". In an Epistle addressed to the Ukrainian faithful, Sergius stated that Bishop Sikorsky had presented himself to the German authorities as the "Archbishop of Luck and Kovel and Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church." This imposter "had promised his faithful co-operation to the Germans, whom he had addressed as the liberators of the Ukrainian People' ".

The true Orthodox Church in the Ukraine, said Sergius, was the Church which was

"sharing all the hardships and sorrows of the Russian people."

The second part of the book told of the German destruction of numerous valuable

churches (notably the New Jerusalem Monastery at Istra and the Novgorod churches),

and of the fearful atrocities committed by the enemy in occupied areas. Conscious of the sufferings inflicted by the Germans on the Russian people, the book said, the priests had nearly everywhere [sic] refused to fraternise with the German "liberators".

For all that, in 1942, the Church was still very down-at-heel, and it was not till later that steps were taken to restore church buildings— buildings of "historic value"—and that the Patriarch and the newly formed Synod were given decent quarters in Moscow. These

measures, and others of a financial nature were taken after the establishment of a special Department for Church Affairs at the Council of People's Commissars, with a Mr Karpov at its head—a comrade who had been a police official in charge of church matters and who was now sometimes jokingly referred to in Moscow as "Narkombog" or

"Narkomop", i.e. People's Commissar for God, or People's Commissar for Opium (for the people).

But in the summer of 1942, churches in Moscow—and even "Moscow Cathedral", which had never been more than a very large and ugly and relatively modern suburban church—

were still a dismal and depressing sight. The cathedral remained one of the few Moscow centres of organized, professional and completely unashamed begging, even though the rouble notes and twenty-kopek pieces they were given can hardly have been of any value to the wretched tattered old women. The congregation consisted chiefly of elderly people, though there were also some young women—many of them with children. They kept

passing on to the altar slips of paper with the names of those they wished included in the prayers. Then there were collections "for the poor" and "for the restoration of the church"—which it certainly badly needed. Only very few soldiers could be seen among the congregation. The priests' robes were on the shabby side, though the robes and crown of the Metropolitan Nicholas looked impressive enough; but there seemed a shortage of both incense and candles, and the singing was poor and uninspired. The whole scene was drab and miserable.

By 1943 there was already a great improvement. The church attendance, especially on

Easter night, was extraordinarily high; whole streets adjoining the twenty-five or thirty churches in Moscow were crowded with people who could find no room inside. A Party