Calendar of Roman Berzins, the priest and missionary of Pskov mission (1942)

Abstract

This paper makes public for the fi rst time the liturgical Calendar of Roman Berzins, the priest and missionary of the Orthodox Pskov (external) mission. During World War IIб he served briefl y in the annexed territory of Pskov region. The priest kept a diary of his church services in Pskov, Gdov, and Ostrovsky districts (Russ. уезды) as a report designed for metropolitan Sergiy (Voskresenskiy), the exarch of the Baltics. From this source we learn about the opening of Orthodox churches and liturgical practices of the Exarchate in the annexed territory of North-Western Russia from February till May 1942. The accompanying note describes opinions of churchgoers on topical church issues. The Calendar was included in the criminal case of the priest, who was accused of serving in the Orthodox Pskov (external) mission as an agent of the German intelligence structure (SD). The publication is based on the documents of Клировые ведомости and the criminal case of Roman Berzins, the priest and missionary, dated 1947.

Keywords

• liturgical calendar
• criminal case
• priest and missionary roman berzins
• protodeacon feodor yudin
• archpriest ioann legkiy
• orthodox pskov mission
• gdov
• liturgy
• recipients of communion
• moleben