The publication introduces into scientific circulation four letters from Metropolitan Eleutherius (Bogoyavlensky) of Lithuania and Vilna to the Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky). The letters are dated 1934. The author of the letters not only headed the Diocese of Lithuania, but also, from 1930, managed the few parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Western Europe. Metropolitan Eleutherius reported on important events and problems that arose in the parishes entrusted to him. One of them was the division at the Three Hierarchs Compound in Paris, caused by the wrong parish policy of Archbishop Benjamin (Fedchenkov). Another problem was the appointment of a new rector for the Three Saints Compound in Paris. For some time, the apologist of the Moscow Patriarchate I.A. Stratonov. Metropolitan Eleutherius reported on the situation in the Russian Church Abroad and on the patronage, she received from Patriarch Varnava of Serbia. The author of the letters considered his policy to be wrong and uncanonical. At the same time, the metropolitan spoke about the reconciliation between the head of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) and the head of the Western European Russian Exarchate, Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky). The letters reflect other events as well. Among them are the mission of Hieromonk Demetrius (Balfour) among the Anglicans, the last days of Archpriest Sergei Sokolovsky, a hero of the First World War who joined the Renovationist schism and converted to Catholicism, about the attempts of the publicist M.A. Kallash to publish a pamphlet against the Russian Church Abroad, etc. Many of Metropolitan Eleutherius' assessments are biased, but, on the whole, the letters are an important source on the history of Russian Orthodoxy in exile
Moscow Patriarchy, Serbian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Diocese of Lithuania, Patriarch Varnava (Rosich), Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Metropolitan Eleutherius (Bogoyavlensky), Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky), Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov), Hieromonk Dimitry (Balfour), I.A. Stratonov
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Kostryukov Andrey
Academic Degree: Doctor of Sciences
* in History;
Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences
* in Theology;
Place of work: St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, office 219, Moscow 127051, Russian Federation;
Post: Leading Research Fellow, Research Centre for Contemporary History of Russian Orthodox Church; Associate Professor, Department of General and Russian Church History and Canon Law;
ORCID: 0000-0003-4334-1035;
Email: a.kost@mail.ru.
*According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.
This article was written as part of the project “Development of Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church with Other Local Churches in 1917‒1945 in the Light of the Change in the Political Situation and in the Ecclesiological Views of Leading Church Figures of that Period”, funded by St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for the Humanities and the Foundation “Living Tradition”.