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X-A Woe14 of June 1952.
THE CHURCH IN RUSSIA.
‘Last month a Oecumenic “ouncil of all religions in the East gathered
in Moscowe Under the leadership of Patriarch Alexei it was trying to, give
a spiritual parallel performance to the Moscow economic conference. . his
fact draws again attention to the use of Orthodoxy for the aims of the
Soviet Union and to the innder situation as it develops within the Urthodox
@hurch.
The Orthodox Church, once cruelly persecuted in the Soviet Union,
was artificially revived within the last decade and given a legal status and
official recognition. *he idea of the Kremlin in doing so was to create anothe:
means of propaganda at its service. As purely atheistic power, Moscow knew
that its action and influence among Christians, Mohammedans, Suddhists would
be a limited one. It had consequently to have a Church of its own that would
attract those populations and generations who could not live without faith.
Once these populations absorbed into the Soviet tinion and their religious
affiliations unified under Moscow, the Kremlin felt that it would not lasta
long time - only a few decades - until a new generation hiú growm up, in
whose hearts a "materdalistic religion" would have replaced theism.
fhe revival of the new State Church proved for the first time its
usefulness to the Soviet Union as it allowed in 1944-45 to place the
Orthodox Church of Estonia and shortly afterwarsus that of Poland under the
control and leadership of the Church of Moscow. larly in 1945, Alexei was
elected as new Patriarch of Moscow and of all Russias. A few months later, in
the early summer of 1945, his closest collaborator at the time, Archbishop
Gregory of Leningrad, was sent on an extensive trip throughout the Near-kast.
His mission was successful: the Orthodox Patriarchs of Antiochia, Jerusalem
and Alexandria accepted the primacy of Moscow, and the policy of the ussian
Churche The most important was the adherence of Antiochia, whose head, born
in the Near-Kast, had studied in ussia, securing thus a counterbalance to
all other high Church officials in the Orient who were Greeks. Yonstantinople
for obvious reasons, was not visited. On the contrary, Moscow started most
violent attacks against its aged Patriarch and denied the validity of its
title and its rank as Oecumenic Patriartchate, which the See had since the
6th century.
From that moment on, both a uniting and a separating movment went
through the Orthodox Churchs unification along Soviet lines, separation in
a world-wide sense.
Unification was imposed throughout the orbit of Russian influence.
The absorption of the Orthodox Churches of Estonia and Poland was followed
by those of Hungary and of Czecho-Slovakia; shortly afterwards by the Churches
of Bulgaria, Rumania and Albania, that established "the closest 6éclesiastical
ties with Moscow". In 1948, the government of Israel gave full recognition
to the Moscow Patriarche From that moment on, there was in Jerusalem a regular
mission with diplomatic rank, headed by Bishop Wladimir, in representation
of Patriarch Alexei. In the satellite countries gradually the Catholic
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