Antoshchenko Aleksandr

"Only Spiritual or Sacramental Bond, but no any Administrative Dependence" George Fedotov’s Letters to Feodosy Spassky 1946-1947

Abstract

In the introduction to published letters there are characteristics of major activities of the well-known emigre historian George Fedotov on on the eve of the 7th All-American Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America (ecclesiastical province), which took place in Cleveland (Ohio) in November 1946. He elaborated the project of transforming St. Vladimir’s Seminary in the academy, and participated in the drafting of “Memorandum of five professors,” which defined the relationship of the ecclesiastical province with the Moscow Patriarchate as well as with the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. In the first of published letters the historian described the essence of the “Memorandum” that required only a spiritual or sacramental bond of the ecclesiastical province with the Moscow Patriarchate, but denied any administrative dependence on it. He analyzed social composition of the Council delegates, who adopted a decision, similar to the proposal of “five professors”. In the letter written a year later, George Fedotov determined the future development of relations with the Moscow Patriarchate as steps to autocephaly of the ecclesiastical province. Published sources provide readers with valuable information about the situation of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America in 1946–1947s, as well as with significant events in the historian biography during the so-called “American period” of his life.

Keywords

George Fedotov, Feodosy Spassky, 7th All-American Council (Sobor) of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America (ecclesiastical province) at Cleveland (Ohio), Metropolitan Theophilus (Pashkovsky), Archbishop Vitaly (Maximenko), Archbishop Leonty (Turke

Information about the author

Antoshchenko Aleksandr