Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume IV

861.404/4–2648: Airgram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Smith) to the Secretary of State

Moscow, April 26, 1948.

A–412. The Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate No. 1, January, 1948 printed “The Message of Patriarch Aleksii and the Holy Synod to the Clergy and People of the Russian Orthodox Church in America.” Declaring that the state of the Russian Church in America today is chaotic, the message continued:

“The abnormality of the situation was finally recognized by most of the clergy and believers, and the All-American Church Council in Cleveland in November, 1946 decided to ask the Moscow Patriarch to re-unite the Russian Orthodox Church in North America and Canada with the Mother Church and continue as its spiritual head on the condition that it retain the full autonomy at present existing …

“In July [1947], Metropolitan Grigorii went to the United States.¹ There, although he found full support for reunion with the Mother Church on the part of individuals both among the clergy and among the laity, he met with stubborn opposition on the part of Metropolitan Theophilus,² opposition which then took on quite inadmissable forms especially in the relations between ecclesiastical dignitaries …

“The Patriarch and Synod feel it their duty to disclose to the Orthodox in America the full hypocrisy of their spiritual leaders …

“The actions of Metropolitan Theophilus do nothing to prove his desire for union with the Mother Church: quite unlawfully he has cursed Archbishop Makarii³ of New York because the latter has obeyed the voice of his conscience and joined the Mother Church …

In conclusion the message appealed “to all those who are seeking the true path of salvation in canonical communion with the Mother Church of Russia and who expressed this desire at the Cleveland Council to unite around their Exarch in the United States—Archbishop Makarii—” and stated:

“The Patriarch and the Holy Synod in a session on December 12, 1947 have decreed:

• “1. That Metropolitan Theophilus and the bishops who follow him—the Archbishop of Chicago, Leontii, Ioann of Alaska, Ioann of Brooklyn and Bishop Nikon—for stubborn opposition to the appeals of the Mother Church for communion, for drawing their flock into a schism against the wishes of the flock itself as expressed in the decisions of the Cleveland Council, and the former also for his unlawful ‘curse’ laid on Archbishop Makarii—are committed to the Court of the Bishops’ Council.

  “The interdiction pronounced against Metropolitan Theophilus on January 5, 1935 by the Locum Tenens of the Patriarch, Metropolitan Sergii and conditionally withdrawn in January, 1947 by Patriarch Aleksii remains in force as a result of his failure to fulfil the conditions for reunion indicated by the Patriarch. The interdiction is also extended to the above-mentioned bishops.

• “2. Archbishop Makarii is empowered to receive any clergy desirous of reunion—through communion with them in the sacrament of the Eucharist after sacramental confession.”

The message was followed by documents describing the relations between Metropolitan Grigorii and Metropolitan Theophilus during the former’s visit to America. The documents include a number of the former’s unanswered letters requesting an interview with Theophilus, the resolution passed by the Seventh American Church Council in Cleveland in 1946, details of the proposal for the autonomy of the Russian Orthodox Church in America, and a message from Metropolitan Grigorii to the Orthodox clergy and people in America describing the Soviet version of the controversy.

Smith

1. See the memorandum of November 14, 1947, prepared in the Department of State describing the situation of the Orthodox Church in the United States, and the efforts of the Metropolitan Grigory (Gregory) of Leningrad and Novgorod during his visit to bring about its reunion with the Mother Church under the Patriarch in the Soviet Union, Foreign Relations, 1947, vol. iv, p. 616.
2. The head of the Orthodox Church of North America which had broken away from the church in the Soviet Union.
3. Archbishop Makary (Makarius), Exarch and Ruling Bishop in the Aleutian Islands and North America, head of that part of the church favorable to reunion with the Mother Church in the Soviet Union.