Living Church
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Hroðulf
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{{Otherusesof|Living Church}}
The '''Living Church''' (Russian ''Живая Церковь'', ''живоцерковники''), also called '''Renovationist Church''' or '''Renovationism''' (Russian ''обновленчество'', ''обновленческая церковь'' from ''обновление'' ‘renovation, renewal’) was a [[Schism (religion)|schism]] in the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] in [[1922]]–[[1946]]. Originally begun as "grass-roots" movement among the Russian clergy for the reformation of the Church, it was quickly corrupted by the support of the [[Soviet]] secret services ([[Cheka|CheKa]], then [[GPU]], [[NKVD]]), who had hoped to split and weaken the Russian Church by instigating schismatic movements within it. The beginning of actual schism is usually considered to be in May, [[1922]] when a group of “Renovationist” clergy laid claims to higher ecclesiastical authority in the Russian Church. The movement is considered to have ended with the death of its leader, [[Alexander Vvedensky (religious leader)|Alexander Vvedensky]], in 1946.
While the entire movement is often known as the ''Living Church'', this was specifically name of just one of the groups that comprised the larger Renovationist movement. By the time of the “Moscow Council” of [[1923]], three major groups had formed within the movement, representing different tendencies within Russian Renovationism: 1) '''The Living Church''' of Fr. [[Vladimir Krasnitsky]] ([[1880]] - [[1936]]), lobbied for the interests of married clergy; 2) the '''Union of the Communities of the Ancient Apostolic Church''' (Союз общин древнеапостольской церкви - SODATs) of Fr. [[Alexander Vvedensky (religious leader)|Alexander Vvedensky]]; and 3) the '''Union for the Renewal of the Church''' (Союз церковного возрождения) – the group of bishop [[Antonin Granovsky|Antonin]] (Granovsky), whose interest was in liturgical reform.
== History of the Renovationist Church ==
=== Beginnings and First Period (1920s- 1930s)===
The origins of Renovationism can be traced to wide debates concerning possible church reforms, among both clergy and laity, of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] in the beginning of the 20th century. These debates obviously stemmed from dissatisfaction with the position of the Church in the [[Russian Empire]], where it was subservient to the interests of the imperial administration. These debates came to fruition only with the overthrow of the monarchy in the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]], when in November, 1917, the Great Moscow Council was convened, and the [[Patriarchate]] eventually restored.
However, the events of the Russian Revolution of [[1917]] made the more left-leaning of the clergy to consider the Great Moscow Council as not being radical enough. They insisted that the Church was to adapt to the realities of the new [[Communist]] regime, to revise its attitude toward [[socialist]] doctrine, and to make significant changes in its own canonical and liturgical tradition.
Even before the Bolshevik Revolution, in March, 1917, a group of clerics in St. Petersburg formed the ''Union of the Democratic Clergy and Laity'' with an essentially [[Christian Socialist]] program. After November [[1917]], the Christian Socialist position had moved many reform-minded clergy to profess full loyalty to the newly-established [[Soviet]] regime and opposition to [[Patriarch Tikhon]], who had condemned its atheistic activities. Very soon, Soviet authorities, especially its secret services (VChK, later [[Gosudarstvennoye Politicheskoye Upravlenie|GPU]]) took interest in these "Renovationist" groups, seeing in them the possibility of splitting and weakening the [[Russian Orthodox Church]]. This cooperation between the Renovationists and the Communist regime led to direct [[Schism (religion)|schism]], largely orchestrated and supported by the Communist authorities, from the patriarchal Church.
In the beginning of [[1920s]], Soviet authorities initiated a large campaign of persecution and repression against the Russian Orthodox Church--many priests and bishops were arrested and executed, including St. [[Veniamin of Petersburg|Veniamin]], Metropolitan of Petrograd (+1922). Patriarch [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]] (Bellavin) was put under house arrest in 1922 and preparations were made for a Bolshevik-style “show trial”. In such a situation, in May 1922, Tikhon commissioned [[Archbishop Agathangel of Yaroslav|Archbishop Agathangel]] (Preobrazhensky) of [[Yaroslavl]] to carry out patriarchal duties. With Agathangel delayed in Yaroslavl by Soviet authorities, a group of reform-oriented Orthodox clergy seized the chancery offices of the Patriarchate and proclaimed themselves to be the ''Higher Church Administration'' (''Высшее церковное управление''), the highest ecclesiastical authority in the Church. The first President of the HCA was the retired bishop [[Antonin Granovsky|Antonin]] (Granovsky; [[1865]] - [[1927]]) -– a highly learned, but eccentric cleric, soon elevated by the Renovationists to ''Metropolitan of [[Moscow]]''. Not surprisingly, the new "administration had soon received recognition from the Soviet government.
This move was quickly ([[June 18]], [[1922]]) denounced by Agathangel as unlawful and uncanonical. However, for a brief time it seemed that the Renovationists had gotten the upper hand. The Renovationists, with full support of Soviet authorities, seized many church buildings and monasteries, including the famous [[Cathedral of Christ the Saviour]] in [[Moscow]]. In many dioceses, the "white" (married) clergy was encouraged to take church government into their own hands, without approval of their diocesan bishops. Simultaneously, these bishops were often threatened and pressed to recognize the authority of the HCA. In effect, this resulted in "parallel" church administrations existing in one diocese and one city, one supporting the HCA and the other supporting the canonical bishop.
This campaign of terror had its effects: by the Summer of 1922, more than 20 hierarchs had recognized the canonical authority of HCA, the most notorious of whom was Metropolitan [[Patriarch Sergius I|Sergius]] (Stragorodsky) of [[Nizhny Novgorod]], the future Patriarch. In many large cities, all of Orthodox church properties were in the hands of Renovationists. Before convening any general council to discuss their measures, the Renovationists began to implement radical reforms aimed at what they perceived to be the interests of the married clergy. Among the measures, changing the traditional order of ecclesiastic life were:
:* Permission for [[monk|monastics]] (including bishops) to marry, while retaining their episcopal and clerical ranks;
:* Permission for the Clergy to marry after their ordination, to remarry or to marry widows;
:* Permission for the married priests to be consecrated as bishops (Orthodox tradition is that only monastics may be Bishops).
The last decision sparked a bonfire of consecrations of the "married bishops" throughout the country, especially in [[Siberia]]. As a result of its promulgation, of 67 bishops that arrived to the ''Second Moscow Council'' in April [[1923]], only 20 had been ordained before the [[Schism (religion)|schism]]. The consecration of the "married bishops" without waiting for a conciliar decision on changing appropriate Canons met with opposition even among many Renovationist leaders and those "married bishops" later received a second laying on of hands before the Council opened.
The ''I Renovationist'' or ''"II All-Russian" Council'' met in [[Moscow]] in [[April 29]] - [[May 8]], [[1923]]. It mostly confirmed the decisions concerning changes in the canonical rules of ordinations and clerical marriage, which had already been implemented in many dioceses. Its most controversial and infamous decision was to put [[Patriarch Tikhon]] (who was under house arrest, awaiting trial) on ecclesiastic trial ''in absentia'' for his opposition to [[Communism]], and to strip him of his [[episcopacy]], [[priesthood]] and [[monastic]] status. The Council then resolved to abolish the [[Patriarchate]] altogether and to return to the "collegial" form of church government. Considering Russian historical practices, this would have made the Church officially a department of the government. [[Patriarch Tikhon]] refused to recognize the authority of this Council and the validity of the "court" decision, due to many irregularities in canonical procedure: essentially, the decision had no effect on the life of the Patriarchal or "Tikhonite" Church.
The telling blow against Renovationism was the return of [[Patriarch Tikhon]] to active duty in [[June 1923]] when, under international pressure, he was released from house arrest. Already by that time, large passive resistance to the Renovationists, especially in rural areas, had undermined their efforts to “take over” the Russian Church. On July 15, 1923, Patriarch declared all Renovationist decrees, as well as all their sacramental actions (incl. [[ordinations]]) to be without grace, due to the "trickery" by which they tried to seize power in the Church and to their complete disregard for the [[canon (priest)|canon]]s. In August [[1923]], the council of [[Russian Orthodox]] bishops, returned from exile and imprisonment, confirmed [[Tikhon]]’s decision, proclaiming the Renovationist hierarchy as "unlawful and without grace". Some of the churches were returned to the "Tikhonites" (as Renovationists called the "Patriarchal" Church at that time), and many bishops and priests who had been pressed to support the [[Schism (religion)|schism]], repented and were received back into [[Communion (Christian)|communion]].
In August [[1923]], a power struggle among the factions the Renovationist Synod resulted in the forced resignation of Metropolitan Antonin Granovsky. Antonin retired to the church in Moscow that was occupied by his group ("Union of Church Renewal") and, reverting to his previous title of "bishop", engaged in a series of radical liturgical experiments: e.g. moving the altar table to the middle of the church, etc. He made one of the first translations of the [[Divine Liturgy]] into modern [[Russian language|Russian]]. Eventually, he broke [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] with the Renovationist church at large and died unreconciled with both sides of the [[Schism (religion)|schism]]. His group disintegated after his death in [[1927]].
In addition to ecclesiological experimentation, the [[1920s]], the Renovationist Church had some activity in the fields of education and apologetics. Particularly, in [[1924]] the church was allowed to open two institutions of higher learning: the [[Moscow Theological Academy]] and the [[Theological Institute]] in [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]]. Some contacts were made with other portions of the Christian East: thus, the ''II Renovationist Council'' (a.k.a. ''III All-Russian Council''), convened in Moscow in October 1-9, [[1925]], was marked by the presence of the representatives from the [[Patriarchates]] of [[Constantinople]] and [[Alexandria]] who concelebrated the [[eucharist]] with other members of the Renovationist Synod.
In the second half of 1920s, the canonical [[Russian Orthodox Church]] started making steps toward some form of ''rapprochement'' with the Soviet regime. Significantly, in [[1927]], the Deputy Patriarchal ''Locum Tenens'', Metropolitan [[Patriarch Sergius I|Sergius]] Stragorodsky issued a "Declaration" proclaiming absolute loyalty of the Church to the [[Soviet government]] and its interests. Subsequently, a Synod formed by Sergius, received recognition from the Soviets. This had effectively put the Renovationist Synod out of place as the chief spokesman for the alliance between the Church and the Soviet state, and it was then that the Renovationist movement began its rapid decline.
=== Second Period (1930s- 1940s)===
By the mid-1930s the general failure of the movement had become evident. Having failed to attract the majority of the faithful, the movement ceased to be useful for the Soviet repressive regime and, consequently, both the “Patriarchal” Church and the Renovationists suffered fierce persecution at the hands of Soviet secret services: church buildings were closed down and often destroyed; active clergy and laity were imprisoned and sometimes executed. At the same time, trying to “win back” more traditional [[Russian Orthodox]], the church had abandoned all attempts at ecclesiastical or liturgical reform, with the exception of the concessions previously made to married clergy. Instead, the Renovationist Church made attempts at imitating external liturgical and organizational forms of their opponents from the “Patriarchal” Church.
In [[1934]], the Renovationist Synod issued an infamous decision declaring the “allegiance to the old church” (''староцерковничество''), i.e. the Patriarchal Church, to be a “heresy” and a “schism”. The mastermind behind that “ingenious” decision, Metropolitan [[Nikolai Platonov|Nikolai]] (Platonov) of [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]] resigned from episcopacy in 1938, publicly denounced the faith and became an infamous propagator of [[atheism]]. The Renovationist church continued to dwindle in numbers, the process which had intensified since 1939 when the Synod forbade the diocesan bishops to do any priestly [[ordinations]] without its approval.
The final blow to the movement came with the beginning of the [[Second World War]] in [[1941]]. The Metropolitan’s residence had to be relocated due to evacuation. Therefore, the Synod had difficulties contacting and controlling its clergy in the parishes. More importantly, in its efforts to seek moral and financial support from the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], [[Stalin]] decided to turn to the more popular and traditional [[Russian Orthodox Church]] led by [[Patriarch Sergius I|Sergius]], rather than to its largely unsuccessful rivals. On September 8, [[1943]], [[Stalin]] met with three chief hierarchs of the “Patriarchal” Church and promised to make concessions to the Church and religion in general in exchange for its allegiance and support.
One of the effects of this unlikely [[concordat]] was that the days of the Renovationist movement were numbered. What followed was a deluge of Renovationist clerics seeking reconciliation with Sergius. As a general rule, the Patriarchal Church considered all sacraments celebrated by Renovationists “null and void”, hence these receiving clergy were received in those orders in which they happened to be upon the moment when they joined the schism (i.e. 1922). The only exception was made for Metropolitan [[Alexander Vvedensky (religious leader)|Alexander Vvedensky]], who was regarded as the ‘father-founder’ of the schism. Vvedensky refused to come into the Moscow Patriarchy as a layman and died unreconciled.
In 1943, the Renovationist church had 13 active hierarchs and 10 more bishops, retired or in exile. By 1945, there were only 3 bishops left, one of whom was retired. In Moscow, only one church remained under Renovationist control – the rest of the church properties had been returned by the Soviet government to the Moscow Patriarchy while Vvedensky was in evacuation. Vvedensky died of stroke on [[July 8]], [[1946]], with his church in complete disarray. This date is generally considered to be the end of the Renovationist schism.
== Leadership and Administration ==
The central administrative body of the Renovationist Church, as well as its entire administration, was in a state of constant flux and changed names several times in the 28-year period of its existence. Initially it was called the ''Higher Church Administration'' (''Высшее церковное управление''), then ''Higher Church Council'' (1922-23). Thereafter it assumed a more traditional style: ''The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in the USSR'' (1923- 1933). Its President was usually considered a chief hierarch of the church, regardless of the see which he occupied.
In its later years, the Renovationist administration started to lean more toward more “traditionalist” titles. In 1933, the position of the ''First Hierarch'' (''Первоиерарх'') was introduced, in opposition to the “Tikhonite” Church, which was not to have a Patriarch until 1943. The position was given to the then-President of Synod [[Vitaly Vvedensky]], however since mid-1920s all power in the Renovationist Church had consolidated in the hands of its actual leader, Metropolitan [[Alexander Vvedensky (religious leader)|Alexander Vvedensky]]. Toward the latter part of 1930s, A. Vvedensky bore a very peculiar conglomerate of titles, invented specially for him: ''Metropolitan - Apologete- Evangelizer'' and ''Deputy First Hierarch''. In the fall of 1941 he himself assumed the title of the First Hierarch and made an abortive attempt to declare himself a ''Patriarch of all Orthodox Churches in the USSR''. The attempt was not received well by his fellow clergy and in December 1941 he reverted to his previous titles.
=== The Chief Hierarchs of the Renovationist Church ===
The hierarchs in the position of official leaders of the Renovationist Church in 1922- 1946 were:
Metropolitan ANTONIN (Granovsky) of Moscow - 15.V.1922 - 25.VI.1923 (+ 1927)
Metropolitan YEVDOKIM (Meschersky) of Odessa - 26.VI.1923 - II.1925 (+ 1935)
Metropolitan VENIAMIN (Muratovsky) of Moscow and Kolomna - II.1925 - +06.V.1930
Metropolitan VITALY (Vvedensky) of Tula - President of the Synod 10.V.1930- 1933; First Hierarch 05.V.1933- 06.X.1941 (+ 1950)
Metropolitan ALEXANDER (Vvedensky) - Deputy First Hierarch IV.1940- X.1941; First Hierarch 10.X.1941- +08.VIII.1946; “Patriarch” (?) X.-XII. 1941
== Evaluation ==
While it had among its ranks many sincere and faithful clerics, the Renovationist movement from the very start revealed its major weaknesses, which effectively undermined its entire appeal for the church “renovation”. Its support by the Soviet government did not help advancing its cause. On the contrary, Renovationists met with the massive “grass-roots” resistance from “Tikhonite” churchmen and laity, who regarded the “Living Church” as agents of Soviet secret services. Likewise, relaxation of canonical restrictions with respect to clerical marriage led many to regard the entire movement as driven mainly by the unsatisfied ambition of married priests. The dubious moral stature of many Renovationist leaders – such as Vvedensky (thrice married, with many extramarital affairs) or Platonov (a [[Gosudarstvennoye Politicheskoye Upravlenie|GPU]] agent and, eventually, an [[apostate]]) – certainly tarnished the image of the “Renovationist Church” in the eyes of the faithful.
Modern church historians generally regard the Renovationist movement as a deviation from more sincere and well-founded attempts at ecclesiastical reforms in the beginning of the 20th century. While initially the reforms were indeed at the heart of at least ''some'' Renovationism, later it was the issue of unending loyalty “at all cost” to the Soviet regime which became the major point of separation. When, eventually, the Patriarchal Church had found ways for some ''rapprochement'' with the Soviet power, the ''raison-d’être'' for the [[Schism (religion)|schism]] ceased to exist and it went into decline.
== Bibliography ==
A. Levitin-Krasnov and V. Shavrov. ''Ocherki po istorii russkoi cerkovnoi smuty'' [Essays from the History of Russian Church Turmoils]. First edition - Zürich: Institut Glaube in der 2. Welt, 1977; Second ed. - ''Materialy po istorii Cerkvi'' (= MPIC) 9. Moscow - Künsnacht, 1996. Online [http://www.krotov.info/history/20/krasnov/000_ogl.html].
A. Levitin-Krasnov. ''Likhie gody, 1925- 1941'' [Turbulent Years, 1925-1941]. Paris: YMCA-Press, 1977; available online [http://www.krotov.info/spravki/persons/20person/krasnov.html/]. Anatoly Levitin (1915-1991) was a former Renovationist [[deacon]] and a friend of Vvedensky; in 1970s he became a well-known [[Soviet]] [[human rights]] activist.
M. V. Shkarovsky. ''Obnovlencheskoe dvizhenie v Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Cerkvi XX veka'' [The Renovationist Movement in the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century]. St. Petersburg, 1999.
I. V. Soloviev, ed. ''Obnovlencheskii Raskol: Materialy dlia tserkovno-istoricheskoi i kanonicheskoi kharakteristiki'' [The Renovationist Schism: the materials for its religious, historical and canonical characterization] MPIC 27. Moscow, 2002.
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