From the projects of parish reform to the notion of the “faithful”: Sergei Fudel’s reception of the ideas of the Brotherhood of Saint Moscow Metropolitans

Abstract

This article studies the infl uence of the views formulated in the discussion about the parish reform by members of the Circle of those Seeking Christian Enlightenment and the Brotherhood of Saint Moscow Metropolitans Peter, Alexy, Iona and Philip on the notion of the Church by S. Fudel, the outstanding church writer of the 20th century. Sergei Iosifovich was a close friend of a number of prominent members of the Circle and the Brotherhood, amoung the founders of which was also his father, archpriest Iosif Fudel. Some of them, like N. D. Kuznetsov, argued in favour of restoration of independence of parishes as main units of church life, following the notion of the independent community formulated already by D. F. Samarin. Others, like L. A. Tikhomirov and D. A. Khomyakov, believed that the diocese rather than the parish was the main unit and emphasised the importance of a hierarchical structure, being cautious about the split-off of parishes. Both these stances revealed the heterogeneity of the parish as a territorial entity, as well as the insuffi cience of the notion of the layman. From projects based on this notion, the members of the Brotherhood went over to the thought about distinguishing actual members of the community from the mass of all church-goers. This problem came to be expressed only after the revolution in the notion of the inner border of the church in “Letters to Friends” by M. A. Novoselov. It was very clearly manifested in S. Fudel’s works, who employed a traditional notion of the member of the church as the “faithful”.

Keywords

• ecclesiology
• parish
• parish reform
• Sergei Fudel
• F. Samarin
• M. Novoselov
• Brotherhood of the Saint Metropolitans of Moscow
• Church Enlightenment Circle