The expulsion of Patriarch Constantine VI from Constantinople in January 1925: a view from the USSR

The article is devoted to the reaction of Soviet circles to the expulsion of the Patriarch of Constantinople (1924-1925) Konstantin (Araboglu) by the Turks. The top party leadership-the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) – did not delve into the problem. The NKID of the USSR had to dea...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Aleksandr Mazyrin
Format: Article
Language:Russian
Published: St. Tikhon's Orthodox University 2021-12-01
Series:Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета: Серия ИИ. История, история Русской Православной Церкви
Subjects:
Online Access:https://periodical.pstgu.ru/ru/pdf/article/7673
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849434660657954816
author Aleksandr Mazyrin
author_facet Aleksandr Mazyrin
author_sort Aleksandr Mazyrin
collection DOAJ
description The article is devoted to the reaction of Soviet circles to the expulsion of the Patriarch of Constantinople (1924-1925) Konstantin (Araboglu) by the Turks. The top party leadership-the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) – did not delve into the problem. The NKID of the USSR had to deal with the issue mainly. Also, the pro-Soviet schismatics-renovationists, who were secretly closely connected with the OGPU, who sought to rely on the Fanar in the fight against the Orthodox Russian Church, showed special concern about the fate of Constantine VI. The expulsion of the Greek patriarch and the international reaction to this event were covered in sufficient detail by the leading Soviet periodicals (the newspapers “Pravda” and “Izvestia”), and if at first the presentation of information was relatively neutral, then the position of the Turkish side became more justified. The decisive point was the view of the Commissar of Foreign Affairs G. V. Chicherin, who was convinced that the Soviet Union should not “get involved in this matter” and “perceive the old tsarist function of patronage of the Orthodox Church in the East”. The profile Anti-Religious Commission under the Central Committee of the RCP(b), in which there was a strong influence of representatives of the OGPU, it seemed that it was possible to use the intrigue around Araboglu in the interests of the USSR, but in the end the position of the NKID prevailed. The appeals of the Renovationists to Chicherin to intercede for Patriarch Konstantin were consistently rejected by the Commissar. The Patriarchal Orthodox Russian Church did not defend Constantine VI, both for objective and subjective reasons. As a result, the crisis was resolved without any far-reaching church-political consequences.
format Article
id doaj-art-ea4d715836c444ccb6f1efd55cb48b1e
institution Kabale University
issn 1991-6434
2409-4811
language Russian
publishDate 2021-12-01
publisher St. Tikhon's Orthodox University
record_format Article
series Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета: Серия ИИ. История, история Русской Православной Церкви
spelling doaj-art-ea4d715836c444ccb6f1efd55cb48b1e2025-08-20T03:26:34ZrusSt. Tikhon's Orthodox UniversityВестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета: Серия ИИ. История, история Русской Православной Церкви1991-64342409-48112021-12-01103103116130http://dx.doi.org/10.15382/sturII2021103.116-1306The expulsion of Patriarch Constantine VI from Constantinople in January 1925: a view from the USSRAleksandr Mazyrin0St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for the Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, Moscow 127051, Russian FederationThe article is devoted to the reaction of Soviet circles to the expulsion of the Patriarch of Constantinople (1924-1925) Konstantin (Araboglu) by the Turks. The top party leadership-the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) – did not delve into the problem. The NKID of the USSR had to deal with the issue mainly. Also, the pro-Soviet schismatics-renovationists, who were secretly closely connected with the OGPU, who sought to rely on the Fanar in the fight against the Orthodox Russian Church, showed special concern about the fate of Constantine VI. The expulsion of the Greek patriarch and the international reaction to this event were covered in sufficient detail by the leading Soviet periodicals (the newspapers “Pravda” and “Izvestia”), and if at first the presentation of information was relatively neutral, then the position of the Turkish side became more justified. The decisive point was the view of the Commissar of Foreign Affairs G. V. Chicherin, who was convinced that the Soviet Union should not “get involved in this matter” and “perceive the old tsarist function of patronage of the Orthodox Church in the East”. The profile Anti-Religious Commission under the Central Committee of the RCP(b), in which there was a strong influence of representatives of the OGPU, it seemed that it was possible to use the intrigue around Araboglu in the interests of the USSR, but in the end the position of the NKID prevailed. The appeals of the Renovationists to Chicherin to intercede for Patriarch Konstantin were consistently rejected by the Commissar. The Patriarchal Orthodox Russian Church did not defend Constantine VI, both for objective and subjective reasons. As a result, the crisis was resolved without any far-reaching church-political consequences.https://periodical.pstgu.ru/ru/pdf/article/7673patriarch of constantinople konstantin vi (araboglu) fanar the renovationist schism the “living church synod” the greek-turkish conflict the nkid of the ussr g. v. chicherin the anti-religious commission under the central committee of the rcp(b) the ogpu.патриарх константинопольский константин vi (арабоглу) фанар обновленческий раскол «живоцерковный синод» греко-турецкий конфликт нкид ссср г. в. чичерин антирелигиозная комиссия при цк ркп(б) огпу
spellingShingle Aleksandr Mazyrin
The expulsion of Patriarch Constantine VI from Constantinople in January 1925: a view from the USSR
Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета: Серия ИИ. История, история Русской Православной Церкви
patriarch of constantinople konstantin vi (araboglu)
fanar
the renovationist schism
the “living church synod”
the greek-turkish conflict
the nkid of the ussr
g. v. chicherin
the anti-religious commission under the central committee of the rcp(b)
the ogpu.
патриарх константинопольский константин vi (арабоглу)
фанар
обновленческий раскол
«живоцерковный синод»
греко-турецкий конфликт
нкид ссср
г. в. чичерин
антирелигиозная комиссия при цк ркп(б)
огпу
title The expulsion of Patriarch Constantine VI from Constantinople in January 1925: a view from the USSR
title_full The expulsion of Patriarch Constantine VI from Constantinople in January 1925: a view from the USSR
title_fullStr The expulsion of Patriarch Constantine VI from Constantinople in January 1925: a view from the USSR
title_full_unstemmed The expulsion of Patriarch Constantine VI from Constantinople in January 1925: a view from the USSR
title_short The expulsion of Patriarch Constantine VI from Constantinople in January 1925: a view from the USSR
title_sort expulsion of patriarch constantine vi from constantinople in january 1925 a view from the ussr
topic patriarch of constantinople konstantin vi (araboglu)
fanar
the renovationist schism
the “living church synod”
the greek-turkish conflict
the nkid of the ussr
g. v. chicherin
the anti-religious commission under the central committee of the rcp(b)
the ogpu.
патриарх константинопольский константин vi (арабоглу)
фанар
обновленческий раскол
«живоцерковный синод»
греко-турецкий конфликт
нкид ссср
г. в. чичерин
антирелигиозная комиссия при цк ркп(б)
огпу
url https://periodical.pstgu.ru/ru/pdf/article/7673
work_keys_str_mv AT aleksandrmazyrin theexpulsionofpatriarchconstantinevifromconstantinopleinjanuary1925aviewfromtheussr
AT aleksandrmazyrin expulsionofpatriarchconstantinevifromconstantinopleinjanuary1925aviewfromtheussr