The Jesuits' penetration into Russia
Thanks to the Jesuits, in the second half of the 16th century Catholicism was able to halt the spread of Protestantism and begin rebuilding its influence. Large territories in the Netherlands (Belgium), France and Central and east Europe, which are the main arena of the historical struggles of both spiritual movements, have been recovered from Protestant hands. Thanks to them, Protestantism suffered defeat in Lithuania and Poland, with King Stefan Batory, who had previously favored Protestants, began openly supporting Catholics after taking the throne of the Republic of Both Nations in 1569.
Jesuit Antonio Possevino (1534–1611), author of the "Christian warrior", who became a de facto textbook against heretics, became celebrated especially in the fight against Protestants. He stated that a gentle attitude toward Protestants was a grave sin, that promises or oaths made to heretics should not be kept, that the soldier who killed the Protestant was a hero of the Christian Church, and that everyone killed by the heretic was a martyr whom God would take consecutive to heaven. His work was an crucial ideological support for the bloody massacre on St Bartholomew's night in Paris (27 August 1572), during which, according to various historians, 5,000 to 30,000 Huguenots were murdered.
Having established the position of Catholicism in Europe, the Jesuits drew attention to the Orthodox East, directing their efforts to tame Moscow Rusi, combining ideological expansion with intelligence activities. They operated on the 1 hand through the Orthodox Church in Constantinople, on the another hand through the Republic of Both Nations (since 1569).
The Patriarchate of Constantinople, under Ottoman regulation since 1453, became an easy mark of attacks by the Jesuit order. “ Their efforts were not in vain: the Patriarchate of Constantinople was temporarily in their hands, ” says 1 researcher, “a large number of Greeks and many Armenians converted to Catholicism... The Jesuits reached Constantinople in the early 17th century, settled in Pera (the dividers of Constantinople – O.Ch.), took over the Church of St. Benedict, established the school, started the free education of Greek and Armenian youth and, through women, conducted propaganda in homes and families. From Constantinople, the Jesuit mission gradually spread to the islands of the archipelago and to Asian Turkey; the Jesuits penetrated Chios, Smyrna, Cyprus, Aleppo and Armenia. The Jesuits were repeatedly expelled, but each time, 1 way or another, they reappeared and, enjoying the patronage of the ambassadors of France and Austria, continued their activities. Within 20 years, they became so strong that they considered occupying the holy places. and the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate.’[29]
Hidden unism besides began to spread here. Multiple ties to Rome have led to “individual hierarchs, theologians or aristocrats pro foro interne (a decision that afraid only their conscience but remained hidden from the public) individually included a union with the Roman Capital, but pro foro externo (publicly) they remained in their existing position in their (ununited with Rome) Church." They were willing to abide by the terms of the Florentine Union, which was already concluded in 1439 but never implemented and condemned in 1450. But since the Turkish regulation prevented their churches from making it public, “they secretly performed it, so to speak, as “first-borns”, hoping that shortly all their churches would follow in their footsteps. There were besides high-ranking officials who did not themselves join the union, but clergymen whom they knew were well connected to Rome were elevated to the most influential ecclesiastical positions"[30].
The Jesuits acted among Orthodox people not only in the Empire itself. They encouraged Greek youth to learn in the West (especially in the Roman College of St. Atanaze, created especially for Greek education), where they were soaked with Catholic spirit and Western ideas. They besides printed Greek books in their printers. All this contributed to the Greeks' departure from the purity of Orthodoxy, which later became an crucial part of the anti-Russian strategy.
The main starting point for the improvement of Catholicism in Orthodox Russia was the Republic of Both Nations. They utilized here primarily their teaching talent, creating a full network of educational institutions that educated the children of the Orthodox nobility of Western Orruska, deprived of schools of a akin standard. There Orthodox youth, not being openly forced to convert, found themselves in a abroad environment and was soaked in the values of Western culture, yet becoming Catholics in their worldview and then in their formal beliefs. Universities and gymnasiums were first created in Vilnius, Polotsk and Volyn, and under Bator's regulation they began to be mass-created in another cities of Western Rusia and Galicia – in Lviv, Pinsk and Nieżeń. In Vilnius, the College was converted into an academy, and according to Possevin's plans a seminar for the Rusins was established. In 1581 a peculiar college – Russicum – was established in Rome for the Rusins who converted to Catholicism. [31]
“By corrupting Orthodox children, Jesuits sought corruption and adults,” writes metropolitan Makara (Bułhakow). As a result, many Russian princes turned to Catholicism or leaned towards a union, the necessity of which was justified by the celebrated Vilnius Jesuit, doctor of doctrine Peter Complaint, arguing that the only actual Church of Christ beyond which salvation is impossible is the Roman Church.[32]
Here, on the east outskirts of the Republic of Both Nations, the Jesuits established their fortresses and conducted active reconnaissance activities against Moscow.
Several stages of expansion to the East can be distinguished, which took different forms depending on political circumstances.
Diplomatic attack. In 1588, Ruś Moskiewska entered the Inflanck War against Lithuania and the Inflanck Confederation. And then, with Possevin's participation, a plan for the Catholicization of Russia was developed, in which the “unification of churches” under the pope's leadership was closely linked to the common conflict with Turkey and the change in the position of the Constantinople Patriarchate.
Rome was to promise Moscow assistance in ending the Inflantic War, and Moscow was to participate in the Pope's planned crusade against the Osmans, in Rome's interests. Most importantly, however, he was to consent to the union and declare the Holy See an ecumenical patriarchy, replacing Constantinople, which would designate the Moscow Patriarch (Moscow Church was then managed by truly independent metropolitans).[33] However, if there had been a general anti-Turkish alliance, Rusi's participation would have limited itself to carrying the burden of war and reversing the main enemy forces, which would have contributed to its weakening and dependence on Rome. Even if the Vatican assured the Russians only initial consent to join the alliance, this would mean that the Orthodox Tsar would recognise the papal primacy in the proposed coalition. At the same time, Rome promised the King of Poland that in the event of the eradication of Orthodoxy in Russia, the borders of the Kingdom of Poland would extend to the territory of the Russian state.
The first message, led by theologian Rudolf Klenke, was to be sent to Moscow for this intent in 1576, but this journey never came to fruition. Then, erstwhile the Moscow State lost respective cities during the Inflantic War, Ivan the Terrible, fearing the Turkish invasion, sent his own ambassador to Rome to ask the Pope for mediation to convince Poland to enter into peace. Rome took advantage of this chance and in 1581 sent a common message to Moscow led by the Papal Legate Antoni Possevino. The task of the second was first to negociate with the Tsar the union of the Russian Church with the Roman Church, and then, if it succeeds, to bring about reconciliation between him and the Polish King.
In exchange for peace, the Vatican hoped not only for the Tsar's consent to participate in the alliance against the Turks, but besides for the free movement of Catholic missionaries and Italian merchants to the Muslim East through Russian lands, the right to build churches in Russia and the right to convert it to Catholicism.
Possevino received detailed, secret instructions. He was to examine the character of the Tsar and appeal to his pride, reminding him that the Russian Church was subject to the patriarch of Constantinople, who was “a slave of the Turkish Sultan.” It was believed that specified reasoning would persuade Ivan IV to admit the pope as his spiritual leader, accept Catholicism and break the last spiritual ties with Byzantine, forcing the Russian clergy to submit to Rome. To strengthen these demands, Possevino was to give the Tsar the terms of the Florentine Union of 1439, recognising the primacy of the Roman Pope.
Despite all the diplomatic experience, Possevino failed to get a single real concession. The Tsar powerfully avoided spiritual debates and all peaceful talks on this subject, making peace with the Republic of Both Nations as a condition for any further relation with the Pope. little than a period later, the legate was forced to return to Lithuania for peace negotiations, and 5 months later a truce was signed.
In February 1852, Possevino arrived in Moscow, where he and the Tsar fought theological debate in a narrow group of nobles. It was noted that Ivan IV showed deep ecclesiastical cognition and repeatedly placed the papal legate in difficulty. Ivan the Terrible called Catholic doctrine "sinful" and "full of errors". Possevino's mission yet failed.[34]
Local Union. The failure of the Vatican to Catholicize and political subjugate the Russian state through diplomatic attacks forced it to search another solutions. This has been the case especially since 1589, erstwhile the Church in Moscow gained Patriarchate position and its position changed.
The main emphasis was now placed on Orthodoxy in the Republic of Both Nations. Experienced by constant persecution from Catholic authorities, the local Belarusian and Malurus peasantry continued to defend Orthodoxy. Since it was impossible to eradicate faith, the Jesuit Peter Complaint developed a plan to persuade the Orthodox nobility and bishops to adopt the union, promising them appropriate privileges. In his work “On the unity of the Church of God under 1 shepherd”, he proposed that Polish Catholics enter into negotiations with Orthodox bishops in the territory of the Republic in order to enter into a union with the Kiev metropolis, in which it would recognise the authority of the pope and Catholic dogmas, while preserving Orthodox sacraments and rites. The position of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate, under Turkish regulation and subject to Kiev at the time, was not taken into account. As Possevino claimed, “the union, along with its sacred Catholic faith, will scope the East from Lviv and Lutsk, Vilnius and Polotsk”.[35]
This goal was possible thanks to the attitude of the highest Orthodox clergy and feudal nobility, and above all the metropolitan of Kiev Michał Rogoz. Having a reputation as a staunch defender of Orthodoxy, he actually maintained close contact with Jesuits who developed instructions for him to prepare the public for the union. The act of joining the Kiev metropolitan area to the Roman Catholic Church was initially signed in Rome in December 1595 and then in October 1596 the Church Council was convened in Brest to approve it. The Council immediately divided into 2 groups that met separately: Catholics and Unitians on the 1 hand and Orthodox on the other. The Catholic part of the Council proclaimed the formation of the Unity Church (Greek Catholic), which in accordance with the provisions of the Union retained Orthodox sacraments and rites, utilized Orthodox Slavic in liturgy, but was completely subordinate to the Roman Pope, recognized Catholic dogmas and the pope's highest authority in resolving controversial theological issues, and accepted philioque and the Gregorian calendar. The Unity clergy were exempt from taxes and the Unice bishops were elevated to the rank of Polish Senators (but they were never included in the Senate).
Although the majority of the bishops of the Kiev Metropolitan Republic supported the Brzeska Union, and the Metropolis renounced its power for the Roman Pope, the exarch of the patriarch of Constantinople, Nicefor, 2 bishops of the Kiev Metropolitan Republic and a crucial number of Orthodox people rejected the act of unification and maintained the Orthodox organization. As a result, the Union not only divided the Western Russian Church into the Union and the Orthodox Church, but besides laid the foundation for Orthodox persecution. Strengthening the position of higher social strata, it became a disaster for a wider population that did not accept it: peasantry, Cossacks and townspeople. It was brought into force by force and terror: Orthodox rights were denied, the persecution of Orthodox fraternity and schools began, the construction of the church was banned, the existing temples were taken over by Unitists, priests who refused to accept the Union, were expelled from the parish, and laymen who supported it were cursed. All of this was accompanied by utmost cruelty from the Catholic-Union camp, torture, executions and murders, which provoked strong opposition from the Orthodox people.
Unicki archbishop Polock and Vitebska, Jozafat Kuncevich, at the head of the Jesuits, he was peculiarly celebrated for his criminal repression. After confiscating Orthodox churches and monasteries, he banned Orthodox priests, under the threat of death penalty, from entering the areas where the churches stood. Lithuanian Chancellor Lew Sapieha wrote to him: “The Almighty tenderly calls all men to Himself... And you oppress the Russian people with thoughtless force and you push them into rebellion and disobedience... You besides know the complaints of the common people and their cries that they would alternatively be in Turkish captivity than endure specified terrible persecution for religion and piety... You compose that you can drown Orthodox people and cut off their heads... that (their) churches must be desecrated... (You) close the churches, so that people without devotion and Christian rites die like non-Christians... alternatively of joy, your flattering Union has only brought us sadness, anxiety and unrest, so we like to be without it." The Vitebsk people, unanimously refusing to obey Kuncevich, almost completely rebelled against him and carried out repressions on him. To this end, at the command of Pope Urban VIII, the Polish King Sigismund III launched repression against the inhabitants of the city. The Pope wrote to him: “You will see that a fortress protecting the Russians from the Union will collapse.”[36]
The wave of repression, led by the Jesuits, yet swept the full region. Hundreds of people were imprisoned and executed, thousands lost land, and Orthodox churches closed and sealed. However, Kuncewicz was declared blessed by the Catholic Church year after his death, and was elevated to holy dignity in 1867. In 1923 Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical, calling Kuncewicz a “hiero-marrior” and stating that specified examples of “holy life” should contribute to the unity of all Christians. It was this man that Pope John Paul II called the “apostle of unity”, “a noble figure”, whose blood shed forever cemented the large substance of the Union. And it is this man that Pope Francis will quote as an example erstwhile in 2013 he begins "building bridges" between Ukraine and the European Union.
Military intervention and ‘Greek projectIt’s okay. ” Another effort of Catholic expansion took place during the period of large sadness in Russia (1598–1613), and hopes were placed in military intervention of Poland and the establishment of a Catholic dynasty on the Russian throne, which would rapidly and forcibly Catholicize the Russian people.
The Jesuits were both originators and, to any extent, performers of this plot. It was Possevino who developed the plan to usage the Defendant, promoting the character of Dmitri Self-Sustainer, which he besides led. The Jesuits participated in his intronization in Russia, served in his army, were his confessors, and worked out plans to establish schools in Russia. This effort besides failed, and the Jesuits were driven out of the country with Polish-Lithuanian invaders. From then on, the word “Jesus” was seen in Russia as synonymous with a dangerous enemy who would not back distant from anything to accomplish his goals.
However, it was in preparation for the intervention that the Jesuits developed a new, more cunning plan for the introduction of the Union, which was outlined in the instructions for the Presenter. (d) the tsar should keep a tiny number of Catholic clergymen with him and write, send and receive letters concerning the matter, especially from Rome, as carefully as possible; (d) the tsar himself should talk of the union seldom and cautiously so that he does not begin matters with him, but let him The Russians themselvesFirst propose any irrelevant topics of religion that require reform, and thus pave the way for a union; f) give the law that everything in the Russian Church should be subject to the principles of councils and Greek Fathers, and entrust the enforcement of the law to trustworthy people, supporters of the Union: disputes will arise, they will scope the Tsar, he will appoint a council, and there, with the aid of God, it will be possible Continue Union; (g) to separate the positions of the people willing to union, especially the higher clergy should be behind the union, and this is in the hands of His Royal Majesty; ... (i) to establish seminars to appoint scholars, even laymen, from abroad; (i) to send young men to survey in Vilnius, and even better to a place where there are no renegades specified as Italy or Rome; (k) to let the Moscals to attend our services; (k) it would be good for Poles to recruit young men here and send them to survey with the Jesuit fathers in Poland; (m) it would be good if the Tsarica had 1 or 2 uniforms among its priests, who would do the service according to the Russian rite and talk with the Russians...”[37]
In another words, it was a very thoughtful operation in which the main function was to be played not by the Papals, but by the Papals. Orthodox GreeksTo origin not social anxiety, but ideological. Thus the “Greek project” was created, rooted in Jesuitism.
For the challenger, this plan was not fulfilled, but the Jesuits were simply hiding, waiting for favorable circumstances.
Secret penetration – Nikola's improvement and schism. specified circumstances appeared in Russia in the 1960s. The 18th century for the patriarchs Nikon and Tsar Alex Mikhailovich, who were fascinated by the thought of reconstructing the neo-Byzantine Empire under their rule.
Both were so afraid with this thought that they sacrificed unity of the Russian Church for it. Raised in the Grecophile spirit, the tsar from an early age was oriented towards the heritage of the Byzantine throne of Tsar Constantine, who would give him power over all Orthodox. Meanwhile, the patriarch Nikon, guided by the thought of papalism and the desire for secular power, hoped to embrace the throne of the ecumenical patriarch[38].
The thought of creating a Greek-Russian Orthodox empire – this "Byzantine delusional", as B. Kutuzov writes – was born during the reign of Tsar Michael Fyodorovich and his father, Patriarch Filaret. It was instilled by the Tsar patriarchs Constantinople, Cyril Lukaris and Atanazy Patelar, as well as the Cretan didaskalos (teacher) Gerasimos Voloch, who in their writings powerfully insisted that the Russian tsar should sit on the ancient Byzantine throne, and the Russian patriarch on the Ecumenical Capital. This task was a profound distortion, a reinterpretation of the Russian national concept of “Moscow as the 3rd Rome”. After all, the thought of “Third Rome” was of eschatological importance and portrayed Moscow as the eventual guardian of the purity of universal Orthodoxy, as “Holy Rus”, faithful to their spiritual vocation. In the neo-Byzantine concept it is replaced by a political idea, depicting Moscow as the center of a fresh planet empire, as the capital of the earthly kingdom. And this forgery had the most tragic consequences. In order to accomplish this idea, it was essential to harmonise Russian and Greek liturgical books and rituals that differed significantly, as Russia had a Student Typicon that came from Byzantium in the late 10th century, while the Greeks had a Jerusalem Typicon that in time deviated from the ancient rite. It was for this unification that church improvement was undertaken, which had no theological basis, but was the consequence of purely political calculations [39]. That is why the improvement was carried out so brutally, ignoring and ignoring disagreement and rejecting a large part of Russian society. Moreover, Nikon changed the ritual with 1 order in a circular letter on Lent Eve in 1653, which caused large confusion among the faithful.
Then came a large-scale “revision of books”—the editorial of the Scriptures and liturgical books—conducted by invited by Nikon Greek scholars, educated in Jesuit colleges and especially favored by him. Direct editors were Arsenius Greek, a heretic recommended by Paisius Jerusalem's patriarch and rescued from exile by Nikon, who graduated from the Jesuit college in Rome, and Epiphanius Sławiecki, a Kiev monk and Jesuit disciple. Later, they were supported by Paisius Ligarida, a Jesuit disciple, and a teacher of Tsarevich Fyodor Aleksieevich.
Szymon Polocki, a secret Unicki basilian, graduated from the Polish Jesuit College in Vilnius. Since their editorial work was based on modern Greek books printed in Jesuit printers, it resulted not in amendments but alternatively in distortion. This paved the way for disastrous innovations that undermined Russian Orthodoxy. Although Nikon did not hold the patrian throne, his "reform" was approved on the council from 1666 to 1667 and implemented by all means to make it irreversible. Changes about Western Catholic pedigree were introduced into singing, iconography, and architecture.
The consequence of the improvement was a deep divided in the Russian Church, leading to the first violent persecution of Orthodoxy on Holy Russia. This meant an interior disaster for the destiny of the country due to the fact that the church schism led to a break in national consciousness. As B. Kutuzov writes: “The fighters of the Russian opposition in the 17th century called the illness that plagued the Russian society at the time, in 1 word, “Niconicism”. Niconiaism is the introduction of abroad elements and traditions of Western origin and its interior erosion by breaking up with centuries-old church canons and Orthodox national traditions, sanctified by antiquity.[40] Analysing the convergence between the past of the Nikon-Aleksey improvement and the points of instruction for the Presenter, the investigator concludes that “this again shows that schism is primarily a consequence of the southwestern Jesuit expansion. And in a sense the "reform" of Nikon-Alexey can be described as a global ideological diversion against the Russian Church, which was successful thanks to Nikon and Tsar Alex."[41] In the context of clouded national awareness, reforms of Peter I (Great) have become possible, replacing the thought of "Holy Rus" with the thought of a secular state and secular education.
Intelligence and secret proselytism under cover of missionary work. The further activity of the Jesuits in Russia was intended to make the most convenient forms of papal intelligence in the country, given the inability to openly advance Catholicism. Thus, in letters to the Pope from Moscow in 1674, the secular Jesuit James Reitenfels of Kurland advised to send missionaries to Russia under the cover of merchants, keeping the strictest secret. These missionaries could present themselves to the Tsar as useful to the country and receive assignments in various cities – Archangelsk, Kiev, Astrakhan and Tobolsk. He besides advised that in any places in Moscow, with the aid of foreigners serving the Tsar as merchants, soldiers and artists, Catholic priests should be allowed in with compulsory approval to freely execute services until the beginning of churches[42].
One specified missionary was a papal agent, a Croatian theologian Yuri Križanić, A postgraduate of the Roman Jesuit College of St. Atanaze, carefully prepared for propaganda activities in Russia. Working for the unity of Slavic peoples, at the same time he persistently spread the thought of unification with Catholics among clergy and nobility, hoping especially for the surroundings of the Tsar of Sophia and Prince W. W. Golycin, including the monk fresh Year's Eve Medvedev. His mission was unsuccessful: he was sent to Tobolsk, and after the Tsar's pardon in 1676 he left Russia and moved to Poland, joined the Jesuit order.
In the meantime, as at that time the Russian government was considering the anticipation of creating an anti-Turkish front for all European countries, negotiations with the Vatican began. To strengthen Russia's negotiating position, the authorities took an extraordinary step, allowing the Jesuits to establish a permanent mission in that country. Thus in 1684 members of the mission of the Czech state of the Order, led by Carl Maurizio Bota, began their activity in Moscow, where they acted with large enthusiasm. They founded a school where they invited Russian children, published books with Russian and Catholic icons, and developed a calendar of saints, venerated in the Russian Church.
The Order influenced life in Russia not only through missionaries, but to a greater degree byreligious literature, especially Polish, due to the fact that technological and literary contacts with Poland in these years were more intense than with another European countries. His most celebrated work, widely distributed in Russia, was “A large Mirror of Examples” – a translation of the Polish edition of the Latin set of moral teachings, the revised edition of which was published by Jesuit Jan Major. another Jesuit works were besides translated, and among the textbooks utilized by the full educated Russian clergy, the works of the Polish Jesuits Jan Morawski and professors Wojciech Onlywski and Łukasz Załuski took the place. These textbooks played a peculiarly crucial function in shaping Russian philosophical vocabulary.[43]
In 1688, the Jesuits were driven out of Russia for manifest proselytism, but continued to operate in hiding. They were closely associated with Peter the Great, including 1 of the most influential foreigners in Russia, a Scotsman, Lieutenant General Patrick Gordon, a military mercenary and a brawler. He provided Peter the large with a retroactive pardon for the Jesuits, who arbitrarily and without approval built the first Catholic church in Moscow. Peter's attitude was determined by his plans to establish permanent contacts with the Vatican, and it was for the first time during his reign that Russia's willingness to admit the Pope was announced, as were the patriarchs of Constantinople, as the title "Your Holiness."[44]
In those years, the Jesuits acted through a secret Catholic mission, which they presented as an institution managed by the German emperor, not the pope. The activities of this mission were described in the book “Lists and Reports of Jesuits about Russia in the late 17th and early 18th centuries”[45], published in 1904 in St. Petersburg and containing papers from the Prague archive in which papers of the Czech state of the Order were stored. In 1 letter, referring to the effectiveness of this secret activity, the Jesuit author noted: “Oh, if our fathers had come to this country from the very beginning, not under their own name, but under a false name! They would not let us even a thousandth of what they now let us if they knew we were Jesuits."[46]
These papers show that the members of the order traveled to the places most interesting to the opponents of Russia: Voronezh, where the fleet was built for the war with the Turks; Taganrog and Azov, where crucial war events were held; Astrakhania, where abroad merchants gathered; Archangelsk, where a port of strategical importance was located (Archangielsk and Astrakhan were listed on the list of 4 Russian cities drawn up by the Reitenfels Jesuits to aid organise intelligence activities). In another words, all of their activities were connected with global political interests and became so dangerous that in 1719 they were driven out of Russia again.
Official Proselytism The Order began its open activity in Russia during the reign of Catherine II, after reuniting the vast areas of Belarus and Malorussia, inhabited by a large Catholic and Unity population, with the Russian state in 1772. With the return of the Unity to Orthodoxy, freedom of religion was granted to Catholic subjects who became subjects of Russian (with the prohibition to advance their faith), including 200 Jesuits who had 4 colleges (in Polock, Dyneburg, Vitebsk and Orsha), 2 residences (in Mohylev and Mścisław) and 12 missionary homes. Furthermore, erstwhile the Pope abolished the Order in 1773 at the request of Catholic monarchs, Catherine II did not recognise the papal decree, and in 1801, the Pope officially approved the Order in Russia in a peculiar order – the Empress became the only patron saint of the Order worldwide. Catholics were banned from promoting their religion and applied not to the Holy See but to the peculiar faculty of the College of Justice for the Livia, Estonia and Finland.[47]
Catherine II and Paul I supported the Jesuits and, prohibiting them from communicating with the Vatican, hoped to usage their educational, propaganda and spy experience for their own purposes, seeing them as diplomats and missionaries. Moreover, Catherine took the Order with her individual patronage to service the purposes of abroad policy, and behind Paul I, the head of the Jesuits (later general of the order), Gruber, became a trustee of the emperor, who greeted him with a Jesuit greeting: “Ad Major Dei gloriam” (K ”).).
In the end, however, the Vatican benefited from this situation due to the fact that it allowed it to keep Jesuit staff and to keep continuity between the "old" Order of the Jesuits, specified as existed before its "everlasting" solution and the "new" Order – after 1814, erstwhile the Order was restored and revived. The main consequence of the Jesuit activity, however, was Catholicization, both public and secret, of the higher spheres of the Russian nobility. Although they were limited to Belarus (where Jesuits came from another European countries), their influence reached beyond its borders, reaching Moscow and St. Petersburg salons. While the fascination with Jesuits in the 18th century was superficial and practical, in the early 19th century erstwhile Paul I allowed Jesuits to residence in St. Petersburg, their penetration of the spiritual sphere of noble life began.[48]
The fact that Catholicism has become a kind of fashion in Russian aristocratic circles has greatly facilitated the celebrated Jesuit Joseph de Maistre, which belonged to the royal procession as the envoy of King Sardinia and lived in Russia from 1803 to 1817. What he describes is very akin to what happens in the life of the higher spheres of modern Russia: “Russians are boundlessly fond of ceremonies, conducted according to all principles, and fill our churches to specified an degree that this frequently creates inconvenience for us... They attend our churches. They become the godparents of our children, and we become the godparents of their children. Russian Knights of the Order of Malta never neglect services in the Catholic chapel and take their place there according to their rank, not religion. And erstwhile large church ceremonies are held outside, specified as Te Beit or others, the Roman ambassador is invariably present at the service. What is more, I frequently saw archimandrites in the choirs of our churches and at the altars, especially during the large Week. Of course, there is any hidden persecution of the Catholic Church, but in no way does this affect the outward rites.[49]
The interest in Catholicism and Jesuitism in Russian noble circles was perfectly connected with the fascination of mysticism and masonry. The improvement of a fashionable country was of large importance in this regard.Interreligious Christianity“ (actually the precursor of modern ecumenism), 1 of the embodiments of which was the Holy Covenant, understood as a union of nations based on Christian universalism, guided by “the commandments of love, fact and peace.”[50]
However, the extraordinary activity of the Jesuits, who after the restoration of the Order in 1814, as in erstwhile times, were ruled from Rome, began to pose an expanding threat to government policy. Alexander I understood this and, attached to the strict Orthodoxy, decided in 1815 to ban Jesuits in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and in 1820, exiled them from Russia.
Thus the authoritative relations between the Jesuit order and the Russian state ended, but this did not mean the end of their activity, which took on a fresh conspiratorial character. As before, they distributed their ideas through literature, but their main field of action was, as always, the Unicki Church. True, their possibilities were besides diminishing here, as the return of Unity to the Church on Western lands continued, and the largest 1 (1.5 million people) was in 1839. In the end, all Unice dioceses in Russia were closed, but for 1 – Belarus.
At the same time, together with the annexation of the majority of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw to Russia after the Napoleonic Wars, the decision of the Vienna legislature raised a question of Catholic status. To solve this problem, the Russian government first established diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1816, sending a permanent envoy there. A paper setting out the objectives of the mission stressed that the Vatican cannot get peculiar rights to Russian Catholics, thus creating a "state in the state". Rome was to communicate with Catholic hierarchs in Russia only through the Russian mission to the Holy See, and the appointment of Catholic bishops in Russia remained the exclusive right of the Tsar. It was besides reserved that Russia would not accept permanent papal nuncios, but only temporary ambassadors with peculiar missions.
Relations with the Vatican intensified during the reign of Nicholas I, who visited Pope Gregory XVI in 1846 and signed the first and only concordat in Russia's history, the first effort to full legalize the position of Catholics in Russia in 1847. They remained under the jurisdiction of the Main Board for the Spirituality of abroad Confessions of the Ministry of the Interior, but were given a average hierarchical structure consisting of six dioceses (Wileńska, Żmudzka, Minsk, Śmajska, Łucko-żytomirska and Tyraspolska), subordinate to the Archdiocese of Mohilev (the seat of the Archbishop of Mohilev was Petersburg). The appointment of bishops was previously agreed between the Emperor and the Holy See, but they received canonical authority from the Vatican in a customary manner. The highest governing body of the Catholic Church in Russia became the Roman Catholic College in Petersburg, founded in the late 19th century. After the Polish uprising in 1863 diplomatic relations with the Vatican and the concordat were broken. The second was never restored and diplomatic relations resumed in 1894.[51]
Relations with the Holy See and the position of Catholics remained in this state until the October Revolution of 1917. Over the years, the Holy See has sought to represent Russia as an ally in achieving its global goals in Europe, especially in the Balkans. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in Russia continued its propaganda activity, in which Jesuit's secret mission played a leading role.
Chapter 3
‘Eastern rite’ and crypto-Catholicism in Papacy plans
The search for fresh ways to penetrate the Jesuits to Russia never ceased, and in this respect revolutionary events of 1917, like the 17th century turmoil, opened a wide field for them to operate, giving them an chance to renew their working methods.
World War I divided the Western Christian planet into 2 camps and showed the utmost decline of the Vatican authority as a spiritual and ideological force. Benedict XV (1854–1922), who proclaimed neutrality at the time, condemned the war as a "monster spectacle", "a terrible massacre dishonoring Europe", "suicide of a civilized Europe" and "the darkest tragedy of human madness", which he attributed to the dechristianization of the planet and unbelief. However, he refused to unequivocally condemn violations of global law (e.g. German invasion of Belgium) and kept silent about war crimes committed by both camps. While the Roman Curia was divided between Ententa supporters and central states, the pope himself in fact sympathized with the latter, hoping to strengthen his position at the expense of Orthodox Russia in the event of the triumph of Germany and Austro-Hungarian.
After surviving post-war revolutionary changes without crucial losses, the Vatican considered it its most crucial task to establish relations with the recently created countries of Central and east Europe and to sign appropriate concordats. However, the most crucial changes took place Eastern policy Catholic Church. It is hard to realize the reasons for the Pope's support for the Austro-German bloc without knowing the Vatican's hopes of the fall of historical Russia.
In the years prior to the war, the Brzeska Union of Lithuania was the main means of bringing Orthodox Christians in Russia into the Catholic sphere of influence. However, although the union imposed the erasure of all east features in various areas of spiritual life, and the Uniec clergy seemingly imitated Catholic priests (serving in Latin churches, with identical altars, without iconostasis, preaching in Polish, etc.), unism was never of crucial importance to the Vatican, but was to be preserved until a convenient chance arose that would let for the most efficient penetration of the full territory of Russia. Uniec churches were “subject to tolerance” due to the fact that they were only seen as a prelude to unifying the Latin and east traditions under the auspices of Rome.[52]
With the outbreak of planet War I, a situation arose in which, in the event of the triumph of the Austro-German bloc and the defeat of Russia, the Vatican was able to completely subdue the western Russian lands and guarantee further advancement into Russia. This explains the pro-German position of the Pope and his restraint in condemning German violations of global law. For a reason, 1 of the advanced Vatican dignitaries, explaining why the Vatican was against France during the war, exclaimed: “The triumph of the Entent with Russia as an ally would be just as large a disaster for the Catholic Church as the Reformation erstwhile was” (and Pius X besides said: “If Russia prevails, schism will prevail”)[53]. The main centre of the preparations essential for this condition was Galicia, then part of Austro-Hungarian, known as "Ukrainian Piemont", and the key function was played by the Unitsk prelate, the Halic metropolitan, the Archbishop of Lviv, and the Bishop of Kamiecki, Andrzej Szeptycki (1865–1944).
Szeptycki was the eldest boy of the wealthy Polish magnate number Jan Szeptycki, courtesan of the imperial Austrian court and officer of the capital regiment of the Ulans. A devout Catholic, he was educated under the direction of the Jesuit fathers in the monastery of the Dobromylian basilians[54], who educated the Greek Catholic Church staff. His career was fast and successful. He was first appointed the superior of the large Lviv basilian monastery; 8 years later he took over the Cathedral of the Bishop of Stanisław in Galicia; and 2 years later (in 1901) he became a Galician metropolitan, Archbishop of Lviv and Bishop of Kamal.
Szeptic actively engaged in politics, even serving as an MP for the Galician Sejm. In the years preceding the war, he discussed with Austrian politicians and military plans and opportunities for the Galician Ukrainians to participate in the triumph over Russia. To this end, in 1908, the metropolitan, utilizing false documents, illegally went to Russia, visiting the underground Unician communities in Petersburg and Moscow. In 1910, he went to the United States to organize expatriates from Galicia. He formed leadership of bourgeois nationalist groups, whose goal was not only to attack the Russian divisions, but besides to contribute to the demoralization of the direct Russian hinterland by organizing “anxiety” among the people of Transnistria, Vinnytsia and Żytomierz. To this end, the metropolitan began to make a branched unitary network in Russia, which, after the triumph of the war, could become a base for the universal and fast instillation of Catholicism in the East.
Since the first days of the Sheptsky War, together with representatives of the Austro-Hungarian imperial government, he began forming troops of Ukrainian Siczov Rifles – “ususus” – to halt Russian troops at the borders of Galicia at the cost of their lives. In a secret study to Emperor Francis Joseph, he wrote: “As shortly as the victorious Austrian army enters Russian Ukraine, we will gotta solve 3 problems: the military, legal and ecclesiastical organization of the region”.[55] The plan was to make a puppet government in Malorussi under the control of the Austro-German military administration, which was promised support from the Unity Church.
It was during the war. However, in February 1917 a revolution broke out in Russia, which radically changed the situation: the fresh government abolished all spiritual restrictions and a peculiar decree of 8 August 1917 removed all obstacles to the spread of Catholicism. Vatican, always watching closely the smallest political, ideological and organization movement, which could undermine the Orthodox world, has completely revised its policy towards Russia. After a satisfactory welcome to the overthrow of the Tsar[56], he developed a completely fresh method of combating Orthodoxy, aimed at the painless and unconscious submission of Russians to the authority of the pope.
The central place, occupied so far by the union and ruthless latinization, was to occupy the Catholicism of the east rite, which was to service as “a bridge through which Rome enters Russia” [57]. It was about preserving the Russian Church entirely – its Orthodox Russian rite, canon law and dogmas – by subjugating it exclusively to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome by acknowledging its pontificate. Moreover, while the union was directed to hierarchy, clergy, and aristocracy, Catholicism of the east rite is not curious in the clergy, but focused solely on people.
This is how K.N. Nikolaev, who knew the situation, described the plan: "...The beginning of the "Eastern Order" was to accept the Russian Orthodox rite in its purely pre-war form and impose its canonical seal on it by the pope. Consequently, Orthodox parishes passed from the jurisdiction of the Orthodox bishop to the Catholic bishop. There was no union in the sense of unification, but alternatively the absorption of the “Eastern Order” by the Catholic Church, along with all the “schism” which this rite caused. There is no union of the Orthodox hierarchy with Rome, as was the case on the Florentine and Brest Councils. Neither the Orthodox Church nor the Orthodox hierarchy are considered. There is no Orthodox conversion to Catholicism, due to the fact that there is no religion of faith, and 2 faiths – Orthodox and Catholic – and both rites, mixed but not united, are subject to the authority of the Bishop of Rome. Unity is based only on 1 dogma of the Roman Church. Church, the dogma of the late 19th century – pontificate and papal infallibility"[58].
The motto of the fresh undertaking was "nec plus, nec minus, nec alliter" – everything was to be precisely as in the Russian Church, and the Jesuits were called to play a leading function in this matter.
On May 31, 1917, a fresh consistory was created in Rome – Eastern Churches Congregation, which brought together all administrative matters of the Catholics of the “Eastern Order” and which obtained the highest status: Benedict XV himself was its chairman[59]. A small later, it opened Pontificium Institute Studiorum Orientalium Ecclesiarumwhose intent was to survey dogmatic, liturgical, canonical and spiritual traditions of Orthodox Churches. In 1922, his direction passed into the hands of the Jesuit order, and the Oriental Institute moved to the seat of the Pontifical Bible Institute, founded in 1909 and besides under the direction of the Jesuits. He later moved to a separate building and became an independent structure within the Pontifical University of Gregorian. Then, in 1917, a first effort was made to bring a fresh thought into force: in Petrograd, Sheptycki convened the Council of the Unity Church in Russia, which recognized the primacy and disciplinary decrees of the Pope, but retained the “Eastern Order” and the applicable canonical regulations of the east Church. The secretary of Szeptycki, L. Fyodorov, became an exarch of the Church and is attributed to the statement: “Russia will not convert until it passes through the sea the blood of its martyrs and through the large sufferings of its apostles.” This act was sealed with signatures of representatives of the Latin clergy, as well as an oath of allegiance to the pope and exarcher by the east clergy. The Provisional Government invited Fyodorov as a typical of the “Eastern Order” to the Commission for the Catholic Church in Russia, and in October 1917, the Minister of religion of A. Kartash legalized the “Eastern Order” in the forms established on the synod. In March 1921 the pope approved Fyodorov as an exarch, giving him the title of Apostolic Protonotarian.
After the October Revolution, erstwhile panic began against the Orthodox Church, accompanied by mass murders on clergymen, the Vatican utilized this situation to strengthen its position in Russia, replacing Orthodoxy. Patriarch Tichon wrote about this in his appeal of July 1, 1923: “Using the present confusion in the Church, the Pope is striving in all way to impose on Catholicism the Russian Orthodox Church.” K.N. Nikolaev, whom we have quoted, noted: “Rome is only curious in Russia. With the fall of imperial power and the dissolution of the Orthodox Church, the union, as an agreement of equals, lost all meaning. There is no 1 to negociate with." The Russian church is broken and, according to Rome, will not regain its erstwhile glory and unity. It makes no sense to conclude agreements with individual groups in Russia. At the time of the collapse of the Bolsheviks in Russia, and even better, if they abandon their church policy, a fresh organization must be created, mature, thoroughly prepared and equipped with appropriate resources and method facilities. This force must attract the tired hearts of the Russian people and unite them in the Church under the auspices of Rome. The east Order must become specified a force.[60]
Rome attempted to represent the fall of Russia and the victims of Bolshevikism as a divine punishment for disobedience, which could only be atoneed by union with Rome. The confession of Benedictine Chrysostom Bauer is meaningful in this regard: “Bolsheviks kill priests, desecrate churches, sanctuaries and destruct monasteries.” But isn't that the spiritual mission of unreligious Bolshevikism, that it condemns the bearers of schismatic thought of extinction, creates, so to speak, a "pure table" (tabula race) and thus creates an chance for spiritual rebirth? 1 of the Vienna Catholic press authorities reiterated this: “Bolshevism creates an chance to convert Russia to Catholicism.”[61]
Also characteristic is the confession of the exarch L. Fyodorov himself before the Revolutionary Tribunal in March 1923: “Since I dedicated myself to the Catholic Church, my most precious thought was to reconcile my homeland with this Church, the only actual 1 for me. But we were misunderstood by the government... All Latin Catholics sighed erstwhile the October Revolution broke out... I myself welcomed with enthusiasm the decree “About the chapter of the Church from the State” ... Only in the face of russian rule, erstwhile the Church and the State were separated, could we remainder freely.”[62]
Benedict XV's policy continued the fresh Pope, Pius XI (1857–1939)), elected in February 1922 and implementing an earlier programme aimed, first, at reaching an agreement with the Bolsheviks on Catholicism, and second, at establishing Catholicism as the “Eastern Order”. As the French ambassador to the Vatican wrote: “From the minute the pope ascended the throne, he dreamed of uniting the Russian Orthodox Church with the Roman Church. He does not want to surrender to anyone the Russian people and pursues his power in all possible ways.”[63] Thus, Orthodoxy was victimized by 2 hostile forces: Catholicism and communism, whose interests in this substance were converging. Given that in the face of the "maturity of the Orthodoxy to fall into the hands of Rome", the Vatican did everything to win the favour of the fresh regime, turning a blind eye to Bolshevik terror, even to Catholics (especially the execution of Catholic Bishop Butkiewicz in April 1923 and the imprisonment of six another bishops). The Bolsheviks, in turn, were curious in the Catholic option, both due to its loyalty to the fresh government and due to its centuries-old hostility to Orthodoxy, which allowed it to be utilized as the main weapon in the fight against Russian national sentiments.
Cardinal Pietro Gasparri (secret mason, as revealed during a peculiar investigation – see below) was given the task of reaching an agreement with the Bolsheviks. In 1922, at a conference in Genoa, he began negotiations with the head of the People's Committee on abroad Affairs (NKID), G.W. Czicherin, promising Russia diplomatic support, giving him a symbolic motion in the form of a red rose. It is known that on the day of the beginning of the conference Gasparri told Italian writer and historian E. Buonianti that the Catholic Church “has no fundamental objections to the creation of a communist state. In the economical sphere, the Church is agnostic. His spiritual interests are beyond and beyond economical systems and do not require a peculiar social environment for their protection. The Church simply demands that any kind of state have no obstacles to the free improvement of spiritual and ecclesiastical life."[64] As Czicherin himself said, “Pius XI was gracious to me in Genoa, hoping to break the monopoly of the Orthodox Church in Russia and thus pave the way for him.”[65] The NKID leader planned to usage this position and in 1 of his letters to the Central Committee of the Party, he even stated: “The Catholic doctrine is of large importance to us in the sphere of global policy.”
From 1925 to 1927, negotiations with Czicherin were conducted by a papal nuncio in Germany, Cardinal Pacelli (future Pope Pius XII). The archives of the French Ministry of abroad Affairs preserved the secret telegram No. 266 from Berlin of February 6, 1925. He states that the russian ambassador to Berlin, Krestinsky, informed Cardinal Pacelli that Moscow would not argue the establishment of Catholic bishops and metropolitans in Russia and that Catholic clergy would be granted the most favourable terms.[66]
After Pius XI took the throne, the figure of the French Jesuit bishop Michel d’Herbigny She has taken the lead in Vatican policy of approximation. He became not only the rector of the Pontifical east Institute, but besides the president of the Pro-Russian Commission, set up in 1925 by the Congregation for the East Churches to educate the clergy in a spirit of respect for all political power and thus acceptable to the Soviets. D’Herbigny visited russian Russia 3 times to participate in negotiations with high-ranking officials and representatives of various spiritual movements in Russia, including the surviving Church, the Church of Renewal and others.[67] In practice, he gained full freedom of action here.
Upon his return to Paris, he published “Church Life in Moscow” in which he spoke flatterably of the Bolshevik regime. In respect to the Patriarchal Church as "a fragment of the past without a future", he treated it with large contempt. He saw only 2 real forces in the planet that had to collide: Communist universalism and Catholic universalism.[68]
Rome began to pay peculiar attention to cryptocatholism (secret Catholicism) in its policy of imposing Catholicism. According to this plan, the bishop, who secretly swore allegiance to the pope, or secretly converted to Catholicism, was to be elevated to the patriarch's throne in Russia. He would then sign the union that Russia was to accept in exchange for Rome's generous motion – the gift of the relics of Saint Nicholas. Krypton Catholicism has the advantage that it does not require formal break-up with the Orthodox Church, but assumes the silent acceptance of a clergyman ordained to the Catholic fold, that is, for Eucharistic communion and hierarchical relation with the Bishop of Rome. At the same time, the bishop continues to service in the Orthodox Church, seeking to gradually instill among the parishioners a sympathy for the Holy See and Catholic teaching.
That's what d'Herbigny was counting on. In carrying out his plans, he secretly consecrated P.E. Newe as a bishop of Russia, who gained the nickname “Biskup Allerrusi” and was authorized to let converts from Orthodoxy to Catholicism to keep their fresh spiritual affiliation secret. It is known that in 1932 the Orthodox Archbishop Bartłomiej (Remov), under the influence of Bishop P.E. Newe, secretly converted to Catholicism, becoming Vicar of Moscow's “Apostolate Administrator” (i.e. P.E. Newe) for Catholics of the “Eastern Order”.
Another way to introduce Catholicism was biritualism, or ‘duality’. east provinces of the Republic, within which the borders after the peace with Russia of Radziecka were found respective 100 1000 Orthodox Russians, became a creative laboratory of its implementation. Its essence was to execute Mass in churches on weekdays as average priests, and then, dressed in Orthodox liturgical robes, to transform into “warrior schisms” who conducted missions in Orthodox areas. In the case of conversion to Catholicism, in the side chapel or in the basement of the church, altars of the Byzantine rite for Orthodox could be built. Biritual priests served in the first phase, and then a fresh generation of priests, educated in Byzantine rite seminars, would take place. This was to lead to a separate hierarchy for Byzantine Catholics in Poland. The Biritualist task was implemented in the 1920s and 1930s, but fell after the business of Poland by Germany and the annexation of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine by the USSR.
The years 1925–1927 were a culminating period of rapprochement between the Vatican and Moscow. However, the situation changed dramatically after the Metropolitan of Sergei (Stragorodski) signed on behalf of the Church of the celebrated Declaration of Loyalty to the Authorities. Moscow then concluded negotiations with the Vatican, losing interest in it. In 1929–1930 Rome yet recognized its political defeat and began to loudly argue the Bolshevik crimes he had previously ignored. In 1930, D’Herbigny published his fresh work “Anti-religious War in the russian Union” in which he presented a completely different view of the Bolshevik regime, and Pius XI issued a message which meant the Vatican's final break-up with russian power. In 1934 the Pro-Russian Commission was dissolved and in 1937 the papal encyclical Divini Redemptoris was published, condemning ungodly communism.
However, while acknowledging the failure of his east policy, Rome did not abandon the thought of the "Eastern Rituary", which he continued to advance among Orthodox people in Poland, the Baltic States and among Russian emigration (where it yet brought fruit). This policy has besides introduced any innovations. First of all, Rome has now tried to show that the “east rite” is just as holy in his eyes as Western-Latin. Secondly, Catholicism began to express its universality more fully, correcting its perception of it as purely Latin. This thought was developed in the encyclical Mortalium Animus, whose core was the claim that there is only 1 Catholic Church, but it besides includes Orthodoxy, whose submission to the pope impedes church hierarchy, which should be eliminated.
In 1928 Pius XI merged the Pontifical East Institute, the Pontifical Gregorian University, and the Pontifical Biblical Institute, all under the patronage of the Jesuits, in the “ Gregorian Consortium” (remaining their independency at the same time). In 1929 he established the Pontifical College “Russian’ in order to educate the Catholic priests of the Byzantine rite, it became known as a "seminary for the future apostles of Russia". This thought was supported by the Jesuit order general Vladimir Leduchowski (since 1914), under whose direction all Jesuit colleges were reformed, introducing a unified teaching system. D’Herbigny participated in the beginning of the Russicum, and his first rector was the Slovak priest Wendelin Javorka. Initially, the staff of the seminary were the practicing biritualists of the Jesuit order, who served in a rite dictated by the situation. However, with the arrival of the fresh leadership in 1933, Russicum profoundly immersed in the Byzantine rite and Russian culture.
However, the complete external resemblance could not and is incapable to reproduce the interior faith, due to the fact that the fundamental principles of this institution were: “the Roman spirit, the soul of the East, the monastic regulation and the Catholic feeling.” The "Eastern Order" remained simply a rite, a shell without content, brought to pure formality and lost sense. Consequently, he was incapable to attract crucial Orthodox crowds, and during the mission, Russian graduates failed to make practically 1 Russian Catholic parish, composed of truly Russian believers. As an exarch of Russian Catholics, L. Fyodorov, wrote, “they will knock off the east seminarian in Rome (and unintentionally), teach him rites and send him back to his homeland. Apparently, he is incapable to make anything original, and schismatists are given another argument that the east Catholic is simply a disguised monkey.”[69]
In an effort to make the east Order native to the Russians, Rome sought complete assimilation with Orthodoxy. Monastery in Chevetogne In Belgium[70] he began to play an crucial function in improving the imitation of Byzantine rites, which could service as an example of specified authentic Orthodox liturgy and ecclesiastical life as cannot be found even in another Orthodox parishes.
The monastic community was founded in 1926 and was initially located in Hamay-sur-Meuse, Belgium. Its founder was Benedictine Lambert Baudouin, who, after a gathering with the Anglicans and Andrzej Szeptycki, inspired the thought of achieving the “unity of the Christian master”, thus laying the foundations of Catholic ecumenism. To this end, according to the Pope's proposal, as presented in a letter to the head of the Dominican order, he founded a "cluster for the unity of the Churches". Initially Baudouin sought to establish contacts with representatives of Orthodox Churches to accomplish maximum Spiritual Closeness through individual contacts (meetings, communication, correspondence). As Baudouin pointed out, the West should go “to the school of the East” not to imitate external forms and deliberately “busan” church rites or artificially latinate them, but to “unify souls”[71]. At the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church took a privileged position in the eyes of monks from America, due to the fact that many Russian spiritual thinkers and theologians, lay people and monks were exiled in Europe. According to Baudouin, monasticism was to play a pioneering role, serving as “point least resistance Before they penetrate churches”[72].
In the 1920s, monks from America, through the Russian expatriate S.N. Bolszak, attempted to establish contact with the Pskov-Speaker monastery, but yet the circumstances prevented it. However, contacts were established with Russian monasteries on Mount Athos, which resulted in the learning of liturgical language and rites, church singing and another Orthodox monastic traditions among monks from America.
In 1928 Lambert Baudouin was removed from the Abbot's position due to differences within the meaning of the monastery's purpose, which put him in opposition to the bishops' authorities (especially Michel d’Herbigny). The second did not support Baudouin's desire for an ecumenical "dialogue on equal terms" and insisted on the request to educate proselytist staff in Russia, which Baudouin rejected. In 1932 he was forced to leave the monastery completely, whose activities became more in line with the Pope's policy. He returned to the community erstwhile it was already in Chevetogne, where it moved in 1939 and where it remains to this day. Although Baldwin did not live to see the revolutionary Vatican Council II (died 1960), he played an crucial function in preparing the modernist “reform” of the liturgical and establishing an ecumenical worldview that would dominate the “renewed” Church. The Cheveton monastery was the only Catholic monastery to establish contacts with Russian spiritual figures in exile. Many of them taught at the Theological Institute of St. Sergius in Paris (Patriarchate of Constantinopolitan), which promoted modernist ideas and became 1 of the spiritual centres of Russian emigration. They were besides active participants of the Russian Student Movement in France, founded by the Protestant-Masonian Christian Youth Association (YMCA or UMSA – see below). As a result, a friendly relation between the American community and the St. Sergius Theological Institute began and a common exchange continued to this day.
The Malurus and Belarusian lands of the Republic have again become the main area of mission attacks in these years. But due to the fact that Poles had their own views on Orthodoxy and condemned everything that happened in Rome in connection with the “Eastern Order”, Germany and the Lithuanians began to play a leading function in its imposition. Thus ended the period of fighting for Catholicism in Russia, and the German period began.
Cdn.
Written by Olga Chetwarikova
(PL)
