Church Service of the Renovationist Metropolitan Antonin (Granovsky) through the Eyes of the Orthodox Clergy and Monasticism

Abstract

One of the difficult subjects in the history of the Renovationist schism in the Russian Orthodox Church is considered – the irreconcilable conflict between the leaders of the schismatic Supreme Church Administration in the first months of its work. It resulted in scandalous forms of public non-recognition of each other in the course of joint church services and ordinations of new renovationist bishops. For the first time, the article introduces the study outcomes and publishes the original text of the report of the abbess, clergy and senior nuns of the Moscow Passionate Monastery to Patriarch Tikhon on the church service of the Renovationist Metropolitan Antonin (Granovsky) and other schismatic leaders in the monastery cathedral in September 1922. The handwritten original of the report is kept in the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg, in the collection of the office of Patriarch Tikhon and the Holy Synod. It is suggested, which requires further confirmation, that its text was written by the hand of the monastery archpriest Theodore Aleksinsky, the holy new martyr of the Russian Orthodox Church. The article concludes that the published source reflects the most acute phase of the conflict between the Renovationist Metropolitan Antonin and the priest V. D. Krasnitsky, which led to a split in Renovationism and the emergence of new schismatic groups. It highlights the most significant milestones in the life of the main person mentioned in the report of the Renovationist Metropolitan Antonin (Granovsky). It also observes the attempts to introduce and publish this historical source that have taken place in historiography before. This article publishes the report taking into account the modern scientific norms of archeography.