Leaflet “Memo for Churchmen” as the Source for the History of Renovationist Schism in Altai (1924)

Abstract

One of the plots in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church of the time of Patriarch Tikhon is considered, when in 1924 the renewal group “Living Church” headed by priest V. D. Krasnitsky had a try to join the supporters of the patriarch. It was established that this plot was repeatedly considered in literature, but its comprehensive study became possible only after the publication of materials from the Anti-Religious Commission under the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the investigative case of Patriarch Tikhon. Based on the analysis of these historical sources the article concludes that the initiators of the annexation of the “Living Church” to the patriarch were the Anti-Religious Commission and the OGPU. Their goal was to exacerbate the struggle between different parts of the Russian Orthodox Church and thereby discredit it in the eyes of ordinary believers. This paper introduces into scientific circulation and publishes a leaflet with a “Memo for Churchmen”, prepared for publication in 1924 by the renovation Altai diocesan administration. It was identified in a single copy in the State Archive of the Novosibirsk Region. The author takes into account the small circulation of 150 copies and the purpose of the church document and assumes that it was preserved only in this archive. Apparently this leaflet was a response of the Altai Renovationists to the messages in May 1924 in the central Soviet newspapers about the joining to the Patriarch Tikhon of the schismatic group “Living Church”, which was not included in a single renovation Church. This historical source testifies that not only the metropolitan, but also the Siberian dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church took part in the new round of struggle of the renovationist schismatics and supporters of Patriarch Tikhon inspired by the OGPU.