The Initial Composition and Structure of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church (1943–1946)

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the study of the initial formation stage of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR from 1943 to 1946. The main objective of the research is a systematic analysis of the personnel composition, organizational structure, and evolution of the Council's central apparatus. The methodological basis for the study was the analysis of previously unpublished and little-studied archival documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF), in particular, the "Orders on the Council's Personnel," which allow for a detailed reconstruction of the employee recruitment process, their official duties, as well as the internal regulations and functional problems of the new state body. The article demonstrates how the initial apparatus, consisting of a few individuals proposed personally by I. V. Stalin, transformed by 1946 into a complex bureaucratic structure with several departments and a staff of over fifty employees. Special attention is given to the fact that key positions in the Council were held by career officers of the NKGB, which defined the specific nature of its activities. The research findings show that, despite its formal task of liaising between the Government and the Church, the Council, from its very inception, served as an instrument of total control over religious life. The main difficulties in personnel policy, including a shortage of qualified specialists and a reluctance to work in this field, are also identified.