Renovationists and the Soviet government in 1923 in the coverage of the Exarch of Russian Catholics

The publication introduces into scientific circulation three documents of 1923, identified in the archive of the head of the Papal Mission to help the hungry in Russia, fr. Edmund Walsh, stored in the library of Georgetown University (USA). The central document of the published collection is a letter from the Catholic priest Leonid Fedorov, who in 1921-1935 was the head of the Apostolic Exarchate of Catholics of the Byzantine Rite in Russia. The example of the policy in relation to the Renovationist movement is used in the letter to characterize the policy of the Soviet government in relation to religion. Fedorov emphasizes the falsity of the authorities’ assurances about freedom of conscience in the USSR and concludes that the policy is aimed at eradicating all religion. He backs up his opinion with a letter from one of the leaders of the renovationism Mitr. Antonin (Granovsky) with complaints about the tax policy of the authorities. The documents are published for the first time in the original language and translated into Russian.

1. Arkhivy Kremlia — Archives of the Kremlin. The Politburo and the Church. 1922–1925. Kn. 1–2 (1997–1998). M. Novosibirsk.

2. Beglov 2019 — Beglov, A. L. (2019). Plea for Help. Letters of Orthodox Believers to the Pope in 1931: New Documents from the Vatican Archives. Vestnik PSTGU. Seriia II: Istoriia. Istoriia Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi, 91, 135-152.

3. Beglov, Tokareva 2018 — Beglov, A. L. and Tokareva, E. S. (2018). The Trial of the Catholic Clergy in 1923 in the Coverage of the Vatican Envoy in Russia. Elektronnyi nauchno-obrazovatel’nyi zhurnal “Istoriia”, 9, 4(68) doi:10.18254/S0002218-8-1.

4. Beliakova 2021 — Beliakova, N. A. (2021). Cardinal F. Koenig’s trip to the Soviet Union in 1980: Church Diplomacy in the Cold War. Rossiiskaia istoriia, 5, 97-104. doi:10.31857/S086956870016596-6.

5. Burman 1966 — Burman, V. fon. (1966). Leonid Fedorov: Life and Activity. Rome.

6. Kosik 2013 — Kosik, O. V. (2013). Voices from Russia: Essays on collecting and transmitting information abroad about the situation of the Church in the USSR (1920s — early 1930s). M.: PSTGU.

7. Krivova 1997 — Krivova, N. A. (1997). Power and the Church in 1922–1925. Politburo and GPU in the struggle for church values and political subordination of the clergy. M.: AIRO.

8. Levitin-Krasnov, Shavrov 1996 — Levitin-Krasnov, E. and Shavrov, V. M. (1996). Essays on the History of the Russian Church Troubles. M.; Kusnacht.

9. Parfent’ev 2004 — Parfent’ev, P. (2004). “With patience we must bear our cross...”: documents and materials on the life and work of the blessed Hieromartyr Exarch Leonid (Fedorov). SPb.

10. Petrov 2002 — Petrov, S. G. (2002). Documents of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) as a source on the history of the Russian Church (1921–1925). M.

11. Petrov 2006a — Petrov, S. G. (2006). “The socialist state has embarked on the path of cult exploitation”: the Renovationist Metropolitan Antonin (A. A. Granovsky) on illegal taxes on the clergy. Gumanitarnye nauki v Sibiri, 2, 85-89.

12. Petrov 2006b — Petrov, S. G. (2006). Soviet taxes and the Orthodox Church in the first half of the 1920s. Vestnik NGU. Seriia: Istoriia, filologiia, 5, vyp. 1 (supplement): Istoriia, 57-62.

13. Tokareva 2003 — Tokareva, E. S. (2003). Relations between the USSR and the Vatican: from negotiations to rupture 1922-1929. (a brief overview of the materials of the national archives). Russia and the Vatican at the end of the XIX — first third of the XX century. Red. E. S. Tokareva, A. V. Iudin. M. SPb., 260-320.

14. Tokareva 2007 — Tokareva, E. S. (2007). Problems of the status of the Catholic hierarchy in the negotiations of the USSR and the Holy See in the 20s of the twentieth century. Rossiia i Vatikan, 2. M., 147-180.

15. Tokareva 2020 — Tokareva, E. S. (2020). Edmund Walsh, Vatican Plans and Russian Reality 1922-1923. Rossiiskaia istoriia, 4, 188-204. doi:10.31857/S086956870010787-6.

16. Fadeev, Shebalin 2021 — Fadeev I. A., Shebalin D. D. (2021). “The government itself regulates the dogmas of the Church in the way it seems more profitable to it...” Exarch L. Fedorov on the religious policy of the Soviet government. Vestnik PSTGU. Seriia I: Bogoslovie. Filosofiia. Religiovedenie, 95, 109-122. doi:10.15382/sturI202195.109-122.

17. Friz 2020 — Friz G. (2020) “Entangled History” and religious everyday life in the USSR. Elektronnyi nauchno-obrazovatel’nyi zhurnal “Istoriia”, 11, 7(93). doi:10.18254/S207987840010690-8.

18. Iudin 2002 — Iudin, A. (2002). Leonid Fedorov. M.

19. Freeze, Beglov, Beliakova, Tokareva 2020 — Freeze, G., Beglov, A., Beliakova, N. and Tokareva E. (2020). “Catholics in the Soviet Union: New Research and New Sources on Everyday Religious Life (1917–1958).” The Catholic Historical Review, 106(3): 477-489. doi:10.1353/cat.2020.0050.

20. Mailleux 1964 — Mailleux, P. (1964). Exarch Leonid Feodorov: Bridgebuilder Between Rome and Moscow. N. Y.