All-Russian Intercession Scientific and Theological Conference “100 years of the Russian Exodus (Crimean Evacuation): 1920–2020"

On October 16, the Moscow Theological Academy hosted a plenary session of the scientific-practical conference "100 years of the Russian Exodus (Crimean Evacuation): 1920–2020".

      The conference was organized with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill by the Department of Church History at the Moscow Theological Academy. It is dedicated to the role of Russian Orthodox Church in tragic events of the XX century. In his opening speech the Bishop of Zvenigorod Theodorite, Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, welcomed all the participants and noted that the conference takes part despite difficult current conditions.

The participants made reports on the life of children of the united Russian Orthodox Church both during the Civil War, which preceded the Crimean evacuation, and in emigration. The Bishop of Zelenograd Savva (Tutunov), Deputy Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, in his report on “Church life in Russian diaspora according to P.E. Kovalevsky’s diaries" described a danger of losing religious and national identity during that hard times. The Bishop of Peterhof Siluan (Nikitin), Rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, described the fate of the Russian clergy in Finland. Professor A.K. Svetozarsky, Acting Head of the Department of Church History at the Moscow Theological Academy, spoke about the life of the post-war repatriated bishops in the USSR. Deacon Andrei Psarev, Professor of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville (New York, USA) and a historian of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia has demonstrated the difficulty of receiving conciliar definitions in difficult conditions of a church emigration life.

N.Yu. Sukhova, Doctor of Church History at the Orthodox St. Tikhon’s State University, based her research about the fate of Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern) and the Benedictine monk Clement (Lyalina) on their correspondence and archive materials. G.E. Kolyvanov, Associate Professor of the MThT, presented the functioning of theological seminaries during the Civil War in the Southern Russia. P.E. Lipovetsky, Associate Professor of the MThA, presented the theme of “Farewell to the Motherland” in the memoirs of the emigrated clergy. Archpriest Sergiy Zabelich, Senior lecturer at the Moscow Theological, spoke about the tragedy of the “Russian Exodus” in I.S. Shmelev’s "The Sun of the Dead". K.A. Murenets, Postgraduate student of the Department of Church History, presented the biography of Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov) when he was a bishop of the White Army and Navy.

On the basis of the reports of the conference, it is planned to publish articles on the subject in the scientific journals of the Moscow Theological Academy.

MThA Press Office