Review of the supervisor for the graduate qualification work of Grigory Konstantinovich Schepin "The situation of the Orthodox parishes on the territory of the Leningrad region in 1941-1945: interaction with the occupying power and the search for cooperation with the Soviet state".

The topic of the service of the Orthodox clergy during the Great Patriotic War has been on the minds of Russian researchers for decades. In recent years, the emphasis in the works of specialists has changed more than once: at times it has indiscriminately criticized the priesthood, at times it has just as zealously whitewashed in the literal sense all those who were either in territories temporarily occupied by the Nazis or who continued their ministry in besieged Leningrad and in the deep Soviet rear.

In this sense, Grigory's defense thesis continues this research chain. I emphasize that the researcher in his work is extremely independent in its own judgments and conclusions and as far as possible from the politicization so frequent in such cases.

Grigory examines the situation of the Orthodox clergy in Leningrad Oblast, the region he chose for his work as a whole, including both enemy-occupied areas and areas that had never been occupied. It should be noted that he examines the situation of Orthodox parishes from the very first actions of the Soviet authorities after the October Revolution. Such hindsight helps us better understand both the reasons for the change in Soviet religious policy during wartime, and the motivations of those clergy who took the path of cooperation with the Nazis. In creating this retrospective view, the author is extremely attentive to the historiography that has come out, carefully checking previously published facts and statistical data.

A special place in Grigory's work is given to the participation of the clergy in the propaganda actions of the warring parties. Thus, while his analysis of participation in patriotic materials is guided mainly by already widely known material, when analyzing the Russian-language press produced by the German fascists, he relies on little-known publications, such as Pravda, created by German propagandists and their henchmen; Za Rodina; Severnoe Slovo, etc. I note that the historian has carefully reviewed the fonds of the Central State Archive of Historical and Political Documents in St. Petersburg, identifying little-known stories and adding those articles either by members of the clergy or by pro-German propagandists that were previously virtually unknown.

The young researcher also showed a good knowledge of the material by analyzing the activities of various Orthodox groups that existed at that time, in particular, the Renewalists and the Iosiflians. In his assessments of such jurisdictions, Grigory invariably took the position that is close to the contemporary Russian Orthodox Church and its priesthood.

The author also took an interest in those parishes that were subsequently closed by the Soviet authorities for various reasons during the closing period of the Great Patriotic War. In my opinion, the description of this subject is also consonant with the official position of the Moscow Patriarchate.

A special place in Shchepin's work is occupied by the biographies of priests who came under German occupation. By analyzing the vicissitudes of their lives, he was able to form an unbiased opinion of most of the leading figures who served under German rule.  Despite the fact that most of the biographies had already been analyzed by Grigory's predecessors, in a number of cases he managed to correctly and unusually place the necessary accents.

Grigory Schepin repeatedly defended theses of his work at church and secular scientific conferences. 

Of course, in such a complex and multifaceted subject there are still many gaps, including those that need to be worked through with the help of a more detailed dive into the archival collections. Nevertheless Grigorii Schepin's graduate work "The Situation of Orthodox Parishes on the Territory of the Leningrad Region in 1941-1945: Interaction with the Occupying Power and the Search for Cooperation with the Soviet State" is a finished study and can be commended to high standards.


Associate Professor, Department of Modern History of Russia, 
PhD. in History, 
Rachkovsky Valery Alexandrovich