Vladimir N. Beneshevich on the Church and Revolution

Abstract

The article is based on the studies of the archive of Vladimir N. Beneshevich, Byzantinist, Paleographist, and canon law historian who was repressed in 1938. His archive contains documents, which provides us a possibility to get an insider’s view on many important events of the first years after the Revolution (1917–1922): the autocephaly of the Church of Georgia, reforms of the Russian Church, and the shaping of the ‘renewal’ movement inside it (‘Obnovlenie’), and the attitude of Christian intelligentsia to state ecclesiastical politics. Beneshevich took an active part in the religious life of the country during the first post-revolutionary years. In 1917, he was send on an official journey to Tiflis by the Provisional Government as a Provisional Representative on matters related to the Church of Georgia; he participated in some meetings of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. Copies of messages from ecclesiastic persons are of special interest, as well as anonymous writings on the topic of the Church reforms, and Christian attitude toward the laic and ecclesiastic powers. These documents are the focus of attention for the first time. The article is an attempt to reconstruct Beneshevich’s perception of the ecclesiastic life of the epoch. In the appendix to the article documents from the funds of the Saint Petersburg Branch of the RAS Archive (archive of Vladimir N. Beneshevich) are provided. With the help of these documents, we can try to recreate the religious life of the years between 1917 and 1920. Refs 11.