Problems of the Russian Church’s Diaspora in Western Europe in the Letters of the Clergy from Paris to the Valaam Monastery During the Interwar Period

Abstract

The article analyzes the content of the letters of three emigrant clergymen who wrote letters from Paris and its environs to the Lord’s Transfiguration Valaam Monastery, located in Finland. The correspondence dates back to 1927–1938. The authors of the letters — future Archimandrites Athanasius (Nechaev) and Stephan (Svetozarov) — one after another were deans of Russian parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Western Europe in 1933–1947. The letters relate to the period of jurisdictional disputes between Metropolitan Eulogius (Georgiyevsky), the Bishops’ Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate, after which Metropolitan Eulogius became subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1931. The two aforementioned authors of the letters remained in the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. The third author, Archpriest Simeon Solodovnikov, who had fled the USSR in 1930, joined the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. All three clergymen headed parishes and conducted active pastoral activities. The letters reflect their thoughts about the events that took place, arguments in favor of choosing one or another party in jurisdictional disputes, and also mention little-known facts of that time. The article’s author presents the letters` content in the context of the historical situation that developed in the Russian church abroad during the interwar period, considers such a phenomenon as «church parallelism» of jurisdictions and how it affected the fate of each of the mentioned clergymen.