From Church Revolution to Social Revolution: The Zealots of Church Renewal in 1917

Abstract

This article examines the PR and practical work of the most active members of the “Brotherhood of the Zealots of Church Renewal" in the aftermath of the Revolution of February 1917, on the basis of archival materials and periodical publications from the time. These personalities include Fr. Konstantin Aggeev, Fr. Ioann Yegorov, Fr. Pyotr Kremlyovsky, and Fr. Mikhail Chel'tsov. Aggeev and Chel'tsov dedicated their work to reforming the system of spiritual education and teaching of the law; Yegorov was actively involved in the work of the Union of Democratic Clergy and Laity; Kremlyovsky became the founder of the St. Methodius Workers' Brotherhood. While they all supported the February Revolution, they all showed different degrees of political radicalism, making it possible to broadly discern three new models of Church-State relations, which were at play in their various activities. These models could be called democratic, early-Christian, and radical-apocalyptic.