Activities of the Church-government bodies in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1921-1922

Abstract

The Council of 1917-1918 established new bodies of the Higher Church government: Patriarch, the Holy Synod, the Higher Church Council and their united presence. The article considers their activities from the early 1921 when the three-years period finished, within which the activities of the collective bodies were valid and which had been elected by the Council to function through to the summer of 1922, when the campaign launched to confiscate Church values resulted in temporally abolition of the Higher Church government. Also under review are the processes which are underway in these bodies, the activities of the Metropolitan Sergei (Stragorogsky) in the Holy Synod is being studied; repressive policy of the authorities relative to members of the Higher Church government in spring and summer of 1922 and those changes that took place in the membership of these bodies in connection with these events are considered.