CHURCH AND STATE IN SOVIET RUSSIA The New Russian History Series Editor: Donald J. Raleigh, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill This series makes examples of the finest work of the most eminent historians in Russia today available to English-language readers. Each volume has been specially prepared with an international audience in mind, and each is introduced by an outstanding Western scholar in the same field. THE REFORMS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE PETER THE GREAT EIGIITEENTH CENTURY Progress Through Coercion in Russia Searching for a Place in the World Evgenii V. Anisimov Aleksandr B. Kamenskii Translated with an introductiMZ l!y Translated and edited lry David Griffiths john T. Alexander RUSSIA AFTER THE WAR Hopes, Illusions, and Disappointments, IN STALIN'S SHADOW 1945-1957 The Career of"Sergo" Ordzhonikidze Elena Zubkova Oleg V. KJtlevniuk Translated and edited lry Hugh Ragsdale Translated l!y David NorcUander Edited with an introduction fry DonaldJ Raltigh, LABOR CAMP SOCIALISM The Gulag in the Soviet with the assistance of Kathy S. Transchel Totalitarian System Galina Mikhailovna Ivanova THE EMPERORS AND EMPRESSES Edited by DonaldJ Raleigh OF RUSSIA Translated by Carol Flath Rediscovering the Romanovs Edited fry Donald J Raleigh OURDAil.YBREAD Compiled lry Akhmed A. hkenderov Socialist Distribution and the Art of Survival in Stalin's Russia WOMAN IN RUSSIAN msTORY Elena Osokina Frorn the Tenth to the Twentieth Translated and edited lry Century Kate Transchel Natalia Pushkareva and Greta Bucher Translated and edited by Eve Levin CHURCHAND STATE IN MASS UPRISINGS IN THE USSR SOVIET RUSSIA Protest and Rebellion in the Russian Orthodoxy from World War II to Post-Stalin Years the Khruschchev Years Translated and edited l!y Tatiana A. Chumachenko Elaine McCla:rnand MacKinnon Edited and Translated l!y Edward E. Roslof ii CHURCH AND STATE IN SOVIET RUSSIA RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY FROM WORLD WAR II TO THE KHRUSHCHEV YEARS Tatiana A. Chumachenko Edited and Translated by Edward E. Rosio/ ROTI~ R~~o~u~~tl~end~~g:eup LE DG Taylor & Francis Group E LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2002 by ME. Sharpe Published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OXl 4 4RN 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017, USA Routledge is an imprint oft he Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright© 2002 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. No part oft his book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injwy and/or damage to persons or property as a matter ofp roducts liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chumachenko, T.A. (Tat'iana Aleksandrovna) [Gosudarstvo, pravoslavnaia tserkov, veruiushchie, 1941-1961 gg. English] Church and state in Soviet Russia : Russian orthodoxy from World War II to the Khrushchev years I by Tatiana A. Chumachenko and Edward E. Roslof, editor and translator. p. cm. - (The new Russian history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7656-0748-4 (alk. paper) - ISBN 0-7656-0749-2 (cloth : alk. paper) I. Russkaia pravoslavnaia tserkov' -History-20th century. 2. Orthodox Eastern Church-Soviet Union-History. 3. Church and state-Soviet Union-History. 4. Soviet Union-Church history. I. Roslof, Edward E., 195~ II. Title. III. Series. BX492.C4813 2002 322 '.I 094 709044--dc2 l 2002066946 ISBN 13: 9780765607492 (pbk) ISBN 13: 9780765607485 (hbk) Content;s List of Abbreviations and Acronyms vii Editor's Preface Edward E. Roslof ix Foreword to the Russian Edition Mikhail lvanovich Odintsov xiii Introduction 3 1. Church and State from World War II Until 1948 15 2. Church-State Relations Between 1948 and 1957 87 3. The Soviet State and the Russian Orthodox Church, 1958--61 143 Conclusion 189 Notes 195 Sources and Bibliography 221 Index 225 Photographs follow page 141 v This page intentionally left blank List ofA bbreviations and Acronyms Agitprop Agitation and Propaganda Department of the Central Commit tee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ASSR Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union Fr. Father, used as a title for a priest FSBRF Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (1993- present) GAChO State Archive of the Chelyabinsk Region GARF State Archive of the Russian Federation (formerly TsGAOR USSR) KGB Committee for State Security (Soviet secret police, 1954-91) Komsomol Young Communist League MGB Ministry of State Security (1946-53) MVD Ministry of Internal Affairs (1946-60) NKGB People's Commissariat for State Security (Soviet secret police, 1941; 1943-46) NKVD People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (Soviet secret po lice 1934-46) OGIZ Association of State Book and Magazine Publishing Houses OSVOD Lifeguard Patrol RGANI Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (formerly TsKhSD) RGASPI Russian State Archive for Social and Political History (formerly the Central Party Archive, and later RTsKhIDNI, the Russian Center for the Preservation and Study of Documents of Mod ern History) vii viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS RSFSR Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic Sovnarkom Council of People's Commissars (later the Council of Ministers) SSR Soviet Socialist Republic TASS Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1917-91) ZhMP Zhumal Moskovskoi Patriarkhii (Journal of the Moscow Patri archate) Editor's Preface Victims or collaborators? Anyone who studies the history of Soviet Russia is confronted with this stark choice for labeling leaders of the Russian Ortho dox Church. Were prominent Orthodox clergymen persecuted by Soviet au thorities intent on the complete eradication of religious belief? Or were Orthodox bishops and priests willing accomplices of the regime-perhaps even covert agents for the secret police-who secretly plotted the church's destruction from within? TatianaAleksandrovna Chumachenko's book offers a new perspective on the nature of church-state relations in the crucial period of Soviet history from 1943 to 1961. Using voluminous archival records that are carefully read and analyzed, she redraws the map of personal and institutional rela tionships between the Orthodox Church and the Soviet government. This history becomes a story filled with personal sacrifices and petty grievances, genuine patriotism and political betrayal. Communists and church leaders collaborated with one another to advance their own agendas. Secret police men persistently argued for more churches to be opened, while Orthodox bishops exchanged greetings and gifts with high-ranking government offi cials. Members of both groups advanced their causes and became victims when the political winds shifted. This book takes a new path in researching Russian Orthodox history in the twentieth century. Chumachenko shows that the Soviet regime collected a wealth of varied material on religion. The reports and correspondence that circulated among high-ranking Soviet bureaucrats were surprisingly free of ideological rhetoric. Instead, they emphasized the practical consequences of policies toward the church. This is not to imply that these bureaucrats as members of the Communist Party did not share a deeply held atheistic worldview. Whenever the debate turned to ideology, their commitment to ix