Archbishop Ieronim (Baritsky) and His Investigative Case of 1936

Abstract

At the end of the first quarter of the twentieth century, there was a split in the Church caused by the organization of the Provisional Supreme Church Council. For almost ten years, the Council’s structures have been steadily developing and strengthening, until the course of state and church policy has changed. In the years of mass repression the Provisional Supreme Church Council, as the leading link of one of the church movements, was liquidated. At the same time, arrests of its leaders — clergy and active members of parish communities followed. This publication presents documents (interrogation protocols and indictment) from the archival investigative case of 1936, the only defendant in which was one of the leading figures of the Provisional Supreme Church Council, Voronezh Archbishop Ieronim (Baritsky). The published data make it possible to characterize his personality, show the state of religious life in the Volga region in the mid-1930s and assess the repressive policy of the atheist state. The introduction to the published source provides a brief history of the Provisional Supreme Church Council and biographical information concerning the arrested bishop.

Keywords

• provisional supreme church council
• gregorian schism
• renovationist schism
• metropolitan gregory (yatskovsky)
• metropolitan vissarion (zornin)
• archbishop ieronim (baritsky)
• repression against the clergy