Metropolitan Joseph Krechetovich and his role in the history of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of Simferopol

Abstract

This article is devoted to studying the role of renovationist Metropolitan Joseph Krechetovich in the history of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Simferopol, which was destroyed in 1930. Based on the materials of the local periodical press (1928–1930), the documents of the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea and the FSB Archive for the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, the author provides the information about the cathedral clergy staff at the time of the appointment of the aforementioned bishop to the Crimean Cathedra. He also gives a brief description of the difficult Metropolitan's relationship with the cathedral religious community. There is the stable opinion about the greed of Metropolitan Joseph Krechetovich and the exorbitant expenses of the cathedral religious community associated with the maintenance of his large family. The author attempts to refute it and shows the nature of the organizational and financial difficulties experienced by the community within the last two years of its existence, which ultimately led to the closure of the cathedral in 1929. He also describes the anti-religious campaign that was launched against the renovationist hierarch and the cathedral community at the beginning of the first five-year plan of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), provides information about the subsequent fate of the building and the clergy of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Simferopol).