Activities of Bishops’ council in solving problems of German diocese of Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in 1948–1950
Abstract
The article studies various issues in functioning of the Bishops’ Council of the German Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. It emphasises that the period of 1948?1950 came to be a period of serious ordeals for the clergy who took spiritual care of laity in the camps of displaced persons, in the cities and settlements of post-war Germany. Despite severe consequences of the fi nancial reform in Western Germany, ruling priest Metropolitan Seraphim with the assistance of the Bishops’ Council managed to coordinate the life of the diocese in the most important spheres such as the divine service, establishing the school of priests, repairs of churches, solution to confl icts in parishes, issues of preservation of the Russian Orthodox identity in the displaced persons. The article concludes that the Bishops’ Council took different measures to solve diffi cult problems of the management of the diocese. Special commissions were established which consisted of both priests and lay people who were considered prominent specialists in law, church building, pedagogy and education, church historical studies. These groups were led by the diocese “commissars” and “auditors” who had power to solve the confl ict situation in Menhegoff , Schleisheim, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden and other parishes. The article also analyses the line-up of the Bishops’ Council. It included distinguished priests and lay people of the post-Revolution and post-War waves of the Russian emigration. The members of the Council remained mostly unchanged in the studied period, though there were some changes due to the departure of some members from Germany overseas. One should also note the balance of the leading role of chairman of the Council, the respected hierarch Metropolitan Seraphim with collective and advisory initiatives in the functioning of the Council. The Archive of the German Diocese makes up the primary source of materials for this article.
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