Peter and Paul Brotherhood in Germany: history and mission problems

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the missionary activities of the Peter and Paul Brotherhood in Germany in 1948 — early 1950. This article is the first study of the activities of the brotherhood. It is noted that the brotherhood was the only Russian Orthodox organization in Germany, whose activities were focused exclusively on preaching Orthodoxy to the peoples who professed it before the separation of the Churches in 1054, in particular, the Germans. The main attention is paid to the history of the brotherhood, its relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The structure of the brotherhood is studied and the methods of its work are considered. Problematic aspects of the mission of the brotherhood are outlined in the article. The relevance of the topic of the article is that the Orthodox Church continues its stay and ministry in Europe, where the interest in Orthodoxy on the part of Europeans is increasing. Orthodoxy is the cradle of Christian Europe. The main source base of the article is the documents of the archives of the German diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, first introduced into the scientific turnover.

Keywords

• history of the orthodox church
• orthodox brotherhood
• german orthodoxy
• russian orthodox church outside of russia
• germany diocese
• bishop john (garklavs)
• archpriest stephan lyashevskiy
• vera petrovna kreger