The Ministry of Metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov) at the Novosibirsk Diocese (New Materials for the Biography)

Abstract

The article represents a part of the collective effort aimed to compile the biography of Metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov), which is being prepared on the basis of materials collected for the canonization of the saint. The period of His Eminence’s ministry at the Novosibirsk cathedra (July, 1956 — September, 1958) followed six months after his return from imprisonment in a correctional labor camp. On the one hand, the archpastoral activity of Metropolitan Nestor, a well-known missionary and Orthodox ascetic, theologian and educator, defender of repressed priests returning from prison, attracted numerous believers to churches, but on the other hand, it also caused discontent of the authorities. The studied materials fill in the missing pages of the archbishop’s biography and make it possible to exclude doubtful (or inaccurate) information about his ministry and moral appearance, which did not allow the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints to make a positive decision at the first hearing of the case on the possible canonization of Metropolitan Nestor in 2003. Based on new documents, the work was carried out taking into account the chronology of events, materials from published biographies of the hierarch and other sources, including biographies of the clergy and laity of the Novosibirsk diocese, which reflected the problems of the period under study. The materials from the archive of the Novosibirsk Metropolia (decrees, reports, correspondence of Metropolitan Nestor) have the greatest value for this study, which made it possible to analyze the conflicts that took place in the diocese and form a holistic view on diocesan life. An important result of the study of Metropolitan Nestor’s ministry in the Novosibirsk diocese is also the identification of features of the anti-church confrontation during the Khrushchev persecution, expressed in the destructive activities of the so-called “groups of Soviet believers”; their methods and details of provocations, as well as a general picture of the disorder that affected the fate of the Orthodox clergy are revealed. This work can serve as a basis for further research on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in the twentieth century, including biographies of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia during the repressions of the 1950s.

Keywords

• russian orthodox church
• anti-religious policy
• new martyrs and confessors of russia
• metropolitan nestor (anisimov)
• patriarch alexy i
• canonization