Oryol and Bryansk diocese under Bishop Nikolai (Chufarovsky)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of church life in the Oryol and Bryansk diocese from December 12, 1947 to October 19, 1949. At that time, the Oryol and Bryansk diocese was occupied by Bishop Nikolai (Chufarovsky). Church-state relations in the Soviet Union of that period underwent changes. In the post-war years, the Soviet government actively tried to use the Russian Orthodox Church for its foreign policy purposes to strengthen the international positions of the Soviet state. This was a time of relative loyalty of the state to the Church. However, already in 1947, it became obvious to the communist leaders that it was impossible to fully implement their plans. In the autumn of 1948, there was a significant cooling of church-state relations. Previously closed churches ceased to open, clergy and church workers were arrested. The Church again began to be pushed to the periphery of public life. It was during this difficult era that Bishop Nikolai (Chufarovsky) was the ruling bishop of the Oryol and Bryansk diocese. His archpastoral activity reflected all the twists and turns of the rapidly changing attitude of the Soviet government to the Church. The article introduces for the first time previously uncited archival materials from the State Archives of the Russian Federation and the State Archives of the Oryol Region, dedicated to the church life of the Oryol and Bryansk diocese of that time, into scientific circulation. The data from the archives that became available to researchers made it possible to reveal new information about the activities of Bishop Nikolai (Chufarovsky) and the life of Orthodox believers of the Oryol and Bryansk diocese in 1947–1949.