The Holy Synod of the russian orthodox church and the overthrow of the monarchy

Abstract

The article discusses the attitude of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to the overthrow of the Russian monarchy in 1917. Sources are mainly drawn from liturgical books, which were fixed by the highest Church administration in March and April 1917. Corrections were made in respect of the Imperial Acts of 2 and 3 March — the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II from the Russian throne for himself and son — and the “conditional abdication” (pending the Constituent Assembly’s decision on the form of government in Russia) on the part of the Grand Duke (the uncrowned emperor?) Mikhail Alexandrovich. Other corrections were made in connection with the transfer of power to the Provisional Government. March 3, 1917, Russia faced a “historic forkˮ in its historical path: be it monarchy, (with a real chance to be constitutional, considering the vast social base supporting it) or be it a republic in one form or another. Before the actual abdication of the Romanov Dynasty had taken place, the Synod had essentially declared to have left the throne (“otsarstvovavshim”) and ordered instead of the prayers for the Royal power the creation of commemorations of the “right faithful Provisional governmentˮ. The legitimacy of regime change began to be inculcated into the socio-political consciousness of the orthodox congregation as well the origin of the power of the Provisional government as “superior” and the irreversibility of the revolutionary events themselves. The respective actions of the members of Synod are explained in the mainstream of historicaltheological problems of the “priesthood-kingdomˮ. The higher clergy sought to destroy, to overthrow the tsarist regime as its “charismatic competitorˮ to be the only power possessing divine nature, in order to prove its thesis that: “the priesthood is above the kingdomˮ, “the priesthood is eternal, divine and immutable, and the realm of the earthly changeable, transitory and temporaryˮ. Overall, in the period under review, the members of Synod acted as one of the component forces in the Russian liberation movement. Refs 58.