Archival Heuristics and the History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad

Information about the author

Andrei V. Popov, PhD in History, Associate Professor, Russian State University for the Humanities, Director of the Program “The History of the Orthodox Church;” bld. 6, Miusskaya Square, Moscow, Russia, GSP-3, 125993; insatiable@fryzino.net

The main task of archival heuristics consists in developing a heuristic algorithm – a method of searching for primary sources on the basis of secondary information available in archival reference systems (NSA). Collections of documents acquire true importance only when information about them is available to historians, and they can be used in the interests of the evolution of scholarship.

Bearing in mind the increasingly frequent requirement for researchers to use archival documents on the Russian Orthodox Church and the history of the Church Abroad, and also the interests of the evolution of church-historical scholarship, a good knowledge of the workings of archival reference systems (NSA) is essential. As a rule, researchers obtain information concerning the contents of collections of documents from inventories, reviews, catalogues, indexes, guides, and automated databases. As a result, the problem of the search for primary sources (documents) on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church cannot be solved without the knowledge and ability to orient oneself in archival referencing systems (NSA).

The Archival Collection of the RF is organized on three levels:

according to the National Archival Collection;
according to archive;
according to archival collection.

At the top level, across the whole country, this organization finds its expression in the creation of archives and the definition of their profile. It should be understood, however, that the profile of an archive is generally not something invented artificially or which is a result of some sort of logical constructs or schemata. Of course, archives do not simply appear out of nowhere, but as a result of historical development they have “their own story”; sometimes circumstantial factors get mixed up in this, such as reorganizations, reforms etc. Nonetheless, each archive has its own profile, which finds expression both in the composition of the documents it contains and in the sources these are taken from.

The first stage of a search for essential archive documents takes place on an inter-archival level, that is to say the archive or archives must be identified where the documents interesting the researcher may be held. Here considerable help may be afforded to the researcher by inter-archival guides, including ones located in the internet. The first port of call for a researcher into the Russian Orthodox Church abroad should be the “Архивы России” portal (https://rusarchives.ru/), where the database “Guides to Russian Archives” may be found, which contains more than one hundred guides to state archives. Also useful to researchers will be the guides: “The History of the Russian Orthodox Church in Documents from Regional Russian Archives”; [1]Istoriia Russkoi pravoslavnoi tserkvi v dokumentakh regional’nykh arkhivov Rossii: Annotirovannyi spravochnik-ukazatel’ (Moscow: Novospas. monastyr’, 1993), 681. “The History of the Russian Orthodox Church in Documents of the Federal Archives of Russia, and the Archives of Moscow and Saint Petersburg”;[2]Istoriya russkoy Pravoslavnoy tserkvi v dokumentakh federal‘nykh arkhivov Rossii, arkhivov Moskvy i Sankt-Peterburga: Annotirovannyy spravochnik-ukazatel‘ (Moscow: Novospas. … Continue reading “Archival Documents in the Libraries and Museums of the Russian Federation,”[3]Arkhivnye dokumenty v bibliotekakh i muzeiakh Rossiiskoi Federatsii: Spravochnik / Vseros. nauch.-issled. in-t dokumentovedeniia i arkh. dela (Moscow: Zven’ia, 2003), 623. and the like.

Of great help to researchers interested in the problem of the mutual relations of Russia and the Christian East will be the annotated index of the files and documents of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (SA RF), “Russia and the Christian East in Documents of the Archive of the Russian Federation (19^th-20^th centuries).”[4]Rossiia i Khristianskii Vostok v dokumentakh Gosudarstvennogo arkhiva Rossiiskoi Federatsii (XIX-XX vv.): annotirovannyi ukazatel‘ del i dokumentov / Gos. arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii; … Continue reading The index provides historians with a reliable and convenient heuristic tool and allows them to find their way quickly and efficiently around documents in the SA RF concerning the problem of Russian connections with Palestine, Syria, the Lebanon, and the Holy Land.

For researchers of foreign archives, the analytical digest “Documents on Russian History in Foreign Archives” by Professor E.V. Starostin may be of interest.[5]E.V. Starostin (compiler) Dokumenty po istorii Rossii v zarubezhnykh arkhivakh. Analiticheskii obzor (Moscow: Glavarkhiv USSR, VNIIDAD, 1987), 76.

Of particular significance for researchers of the Russian Church Abroad is a guide compiled by Archpriest Vladimir Tsurikov: “The History of Russia in Documents of the Holy-Trinity Seminary in Jordanville.”[6]V. Tsurikov, protoierei, Istoriia Rossii v dokumentakh arkhiva Sviato–Troitskoi dukhovnoi seminarii v Dzhordanville (Moscow: Izd-vo PSTGU, 2012), 195.

Let us examine the main repositories of documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad.

The Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA) contains collections of documents from the highest central institutions of the Russian Empire from the eighteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, from social organizations in this period, and also collections of documents of a personal origin. The most important body of documents relating to the history of Orthodoxy in foreign countries is held in the “Synodal Chancery,”[7]RGIA, F. 796. Op. 1-200. Ed. khr. 1-366005 and “Chancery of the Ober-Procuror of the Synod” collections.[8]M. V. Shkarovskii, “Formirovanie i ispol’zovanie fondov peterburgskikh arkhivov po istorii Russkoi pravoslavnoi tserkvi,” in M. V. Shkarovskii, Arkhivy v istorii. Istoriia v arkhivakh : … Continue reading

Historians of the most recent period in the History of the ROC may be interested in the collections “The Holy Council of the Orthodox Russian Church” and “The Chancery of Patriarch Tikhon and the Holy Synod,” also kept in the RGIA. Collections and documents in the repository of the RGIA are an invaluable source for historians of Russian Orthodoxy in foreign countries during the Synodal period.[9]E. V. Starostin, “Arkhivy Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi (10^th-20^th centuries),” E. V. Starostin, Vestnik arkhivista, no. 3-4 (2004): 313-326.

The State Archive of the Russian Federation contains documents of the highest official bodies and organs of state administration of the USSR for the period from 1917 to 1991, and of institutions of the RSFSR and the Russian Federation. Preserved in the SA RF are collections of a personal origin pertaining to church hierarchs, priests, and Church activists.[10]Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii [Elektronnyi resurs] / Federal’noe arkhivnoe agentstvo. — Elektron. dan., Moscow : Federal’noe arkhivnoe agentstvo, 2001; — . — Rezhim … Continue reading The archive contains part of the collections of the former Russian Historical Archive Abroad in Prague (RZIA), which were transferred to Moscow in 1946.[11]T.F. Pavlova (editor), Fondy Russkogo Istoricheskogo Arkhiva v Prage. Mezharkhivnyi putevoditel’, compiled A.I. Barkovets, V.E. Bogdanova, N.I. Vladimirtsev et al. (Moscow: ROSSPEN, 1999), 677. It also contains documents from the institutions of the governments of the White movement (1918-1922), including ones concerning the acts of the Temporary Higher Church Administrations.[12]N. Kriachko, “Arkhiv Iugo-Vostochnogo russkogo tserkovnogo Sobora 1919 g. kak istochnik po istorii Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi perioda Grazhdanskoi voiny”, N. Kriachko, Vestnik tserkovnoi … Continue reading

Among the collections on the history of the ROCOR at the SA RF, the collection “The Council of Religious Affairs attached to the Council of Ministers of the USSR” should especially be mentioned.[13]SA RF, F. 6991, Op. 1-11, Ed. khr. 1-13281 The collection is made up of the following categories of documents: correspondence between the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the USSR and the Moscow Patriarchate on the situation of the Orthodox Church abroad; copies of letters sent to the Moscow Patriarchate by representatives of members of the foreign clergy; information on the property of the ROCOR; documents on the ROC in Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Germany, Holland, China, Korea, Poland, Scandinavia, the USA, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and other countries of the Russian diaspora; profiles of foreign priests and hierarchs; dossiers of documents on the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, the Exarchate of Western Europe, and the Orthodox Church of America. The collection of documents also includes information and reports on the history of Orthodoxy in different regions, for example a report by Archpriest Dimitrii Mlodzianovskii on the history of Orthodoxy in Xinjiang, and the like.[14]A.V. Popov, “Istoriia russkogo zarubezhnogo pravoslaviia v otechestvennykh i zarubezhnykh arkhivakh,” Arkhivy Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi: puti iz proshlogo v nastoiashchee (Trudy … Continue reading

In the SA RF are preserved the personal collections of hierarchs and priests of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

One of the most interesting archival collections on the history of the religious activity of the Church abroad in the SA RF is the collection of Metropolitan Evlogii (Geogievskii). The documents in this collection were donated by Metropolitan Evlogii himself for permanent keeping in the Russian Historical Archive Abroad in Prague (РЗИА) in 1940. The collection was later moved to the SA RF for conservation.

In the SA RF is held the archival collection “The Temporary Higher Church Administration in South-Eastern Russia (Head of Military Operations in Southern Russia). Ekaterinodar. Taganrog.”[15]SA RF, F. R-3696, Op. 1-2, Ed. khr. 43 In reality, the Temporary Higher Church Administration in South Eastern Russia became the basis of a new jurisdictional formation, which was later to receive the name of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.[16]A.V. Popov, “Vremennye Vysshie Tserkovnye Upravleniia na territoriiakh, kontroliruemykh belogvardeiskimi pravitel’stvami,” Istoriia beloi Sibiri. Materialy VI mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi … Continue reading

It should be noted that in Russia, the greatest number of collections concerning the Russian Church Abroad is contained in the SA RF. This is true to the fullest extent of the archival collections which to one or another degree have to do with the history of Orthodoxy outside Russia. From among the set of archival documents on the history of the ROCOR preserved in the SA RF, the collection “The Archive of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad” merits particular attention.[17]S.V. Mironenko (editor in chief), Putevoditel’. Tom 4. Fondy Gosudarstvennogo arkhiva Rossiiskoi Federatsii po istorii belogo dvizheniia i emigratsii (Moscow: «ROSSPEN», 2004), XVIII, 798.

The history of the Russian Church Abroad is also reflected in other collections in the archive: “The Preparatory Commission for the Convocation of the Assembly of the Russian Church Abroad,” “The Brotherhood for the Burial of Orthodox Russian Citizens and the Maintenance of their Graves,” and also the personal collections of the church historians A.V. Kartashev, V.S. Rusak,[18]A.V. Popov, “Istorik Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi Vladimir Stepanovich Rusak: zhizn’ i tvorcheskoe nasledie,” Makar’evskie chteniia: materialy chetyrnadtsatoi mezhdunarodnoi … Continue reading Archpriest Innokentii Seryshev, the parish priest of the Russian church in Tokyo Archpriest Petr Bulgakov, Archpriest D. Konstantinov, and Protopresbyter Georgii Shavel’skii, among others.

In the 1990s, the SA RF received additions of microfilm versions of documents from foreign archives. Of especial significance are documents on the history of the Russian emigration originating from the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. On April 17, 1992, Roskomarkhiv, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and the English publishing house Chadwick-Healy signed a contract for the exchange of copies of historical documents, their replication and the distribution of the copies. In accordance with the contract, in 1993 and 1995, 4628 rolls of microfilm arrived in the SA RF on positive film (774 boxes), and were given a status equal to that of a collection (further – the Hoover collection). On October 2, 2002 a new series of microfilms arrived in the SA RF from the Hoover Institution, among which were more than two thousand reels with copies of 106 collections from the Hoover Institution and the Museum of Russian Culture in San-Francisco (85 collections).[19]K.B. Ul’ianitskii, “Dokumental’noe nasledie Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi v kollektsiiakh mikrofotokopii zarubezhnoi rossiki (SA RF),” Arkhivy Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi: puti iz proshlogo v … Continue reading

Of the collections of the Museum of Russian Culture sent to the SA RF, of interest to us are first and foremost the collections of Archpriest Inokentii Seryshev (which in many ways completes the Seryshev collection already present in the SA RF), as well as those of the priest A.V. Samoilovich, Archpriest David Chubov, of the composer and church choir director I.A. Kolchin, and of Abbess Ariadne.

Among the collections from the Hoover Institution provided in microfilm copies to the SA RF, the collection of Baroness M.D. Wrangel stands out. The collection numbers 49 reels, but only three of them concern the history of the Church Abroad (reels 4-6). In the collection are included: an alphabetic list of towns with Russian Orthodox churches in North America; a memorial note on the church-monument in Leipzig; lists of hierarchs of the ROC living outside Russia; “A Short History of the Higher Church Administration in South-Eastern Russia and Abroad” (by the author Makharablidze); materials on the theological institute in Paris; a large quantity of rare printed editions on Orthodoxy outside Russia, including Old-Believer journals. In the collection of P.B. Struve, also provided by the Hoover Institution to the SA RF in microfilm copies, is contained the correspondence of P.B. Struve with Metropolitan Evlogii, Archimandrite Kassian, Father Sergei Bulgakov, Father Georgii Florovskii, and A.V. Kartashev.

For each of the sets of documents assembled in the SA RF, an independent, multi-level, and extensive academic reference system (NSA) has been created. In the interests of users, the information-search system “Electronic catalogues of the SA RF” has been designed.

Documents regarding the history and position of the ROC in the countries of Europe and on the territory of the USSR occupied by Germany are preserved in the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA). These archival materials are war trophies provided to the RGVA after its amalgamation with the Center for the Preservation of Historico-Documentary Collections (the former Special Archive). These documents were taken from Germany in 1945-1946 and placed in the Special Archive created for this purpose. Among the RGVA collections, attention should be drawn to the collection of the Ministry of Church Affairs. It contains, among other things, correspondence on the situation of the ROC in occupied territories, and on the performance of church services for eastern workers. Of particular note in the RGVA collections is the RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt) collection, which includes materials on Nazi policy toward the ROC on occupied territory. In this collection are preserved copies of letters from Russian Orthodox hierarchs and priests.

Collections and documents on the history of the Church Abroad are also preserved in other federal state archives: RGVIA, RGVA, RGA VMF, RGASPI, RGANI, RGAE, RGAFD, RGAKFD, RGIA DV, among others.[20]A.V. Popov, Rossiiskoe pravoslavnoe zarubezh’e: Istoriia i istochniki. S prilozheniem sistematicheskoi bibliografii (Moscow: IPVA, 2005), 111-137

In the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (AVPRI), documents are preserved on the history of Russian Orthodox missions abroad.[21]Arkhiv vneshnei politiki Rossiiskoi imperii. Putevoditel’, (Moscow: MID Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 1995), 452 The collection “Department of Human Resources and Domestic Affairs” (F.159) contains materials on the staff and personnel of Russian Orthodox churches outside Russia, including clerical records, lists of serving clergy, matters relating to pensions, distinctions, the granting of leave and transfer to another place of service for clergymen, and church financial reports, which were within the purview of the MID. In the same collection are held correspondence between the Ministry, the Synod and foreign institutions regarding the construction and restoration of Orthodox churches attached to Russian embassies and missions, plots of land received as gifts, the acquisition of new buildings for church needs and land for Russian cemeteries in foreign countries, donations for the construction of churches, rented property, and expenses for church maintenance. Also in the collection are preserved short memos with historical information on Russian churches abroad, inventories of church property, and other materials. A guide to the AVPRI collections was published in 1996. It contains a description of the documents of the College of Foreign Affairs (KID), of central, foreign, and temporary foundations of the MID, collections of documentary materials, personal collections, and microfilms of archives which were trophies of war.

The Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (AVP RF) is the largest repository of documents on the history of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation and the USSR. Among documents concerning the history of the Church, particular worthy of note are documents from embassies and consulates in one way or another connected with different Orthodox jurisdictions. In the main, these are informational memos and analytical notes on the position of Orthodox Churches of diverse jurisdictions in one country or another. For example, documents on the history of Russian Orthodoxy in America, preserved in the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (AVP RF) in the referencing collection on the USA.[22]E. V. Dolia, “Dokumenty Arkhiva vneshnei politiki Rossiiskoi Federatsii o vzaimodeistvii Ekzarkhata Russkoi pravoslavnoi tserkvi v SShA i Moskovskogo patriarkhata posle Vtoroi mirovoi voiny,” … Continue reading

Where manuscript collections belonging to museums and libraries are concerned, the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg and the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library stand out for the large number of documents they possess on the history of Orthodoxy abroad.

Among foreign archives holding large sets of documents on the history of the Russian Church Abroad, the Library of Congress of the USA is of particular significance.[23]A.V. Popov, “Arkhivnaia rossika v Biblioteke Kongressa SShA,” Makar’evskie chteniia materialy XII mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii, (Gorno-Altaisk: GAGU, 2017), 226-230. The largest part of the archival material relating to things Russian preserved in the Manuscript Department of the Library of Congress of the USA are collections and documents on the Russian Orthodox Church, obtained by the Library’s Russian librarian M.Z. Vinokurov (1894-1983) in 1927 and 1940. The archival documents on the Russian Orthodox Church obtained with the help of M.Z. Vinokurov by the Library of Congress in 1927 and 1940 comprise more than 150,000 units. Among these documents are the archive of the Alaskan Spiritual Administration and Spiritual Consistory. In the main, these are documents on ecclesiastical foundations, materials of the Russian-American Company connected to its mutual relations with the ROC, documents of a personal nature (diaries and travel journals), registers and annual reports on the condition of church property, and the like.

Collections of archival material on Russia are held in the National Archive of the USA. One of the largest sets of documents of a Russian origin is the archive of the Russian American Company, which was handed over to the United States as part of the conditions of the contract for the sale of Alaska on March 18/30, 1867.

Valuable, and perhaps the largest collections of foreign archival material on Russia are preserved in the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. The archive at the Institution library holds around 6000 archival collections comprising over a million files, 50 million documents in 69 languages. In 2007, the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a project to microfilm the archival collections of the Holy-Trinity Spiritual Seminary of the ROCOR. The main aim of the project was to guarantee the preservation of the documents and to provide researchers with free access to microfilms of the collections in the reading rooms of the Hoover Institution and the Holy-Trinity Seminary. The result of the project was the scholarly description and microfilming of 29 collections comprising 274 boxes of archival materials. These microfilms are now available in the reading rooms of the Hoover Institution for War, Revolution and Peace and the Holy Trinity Theological Seminary. The original documents are held in the Holy Trinity Theological Seminary Archives in Jordanville.

A small number of documents relating to the activities of Russian Orthodox missionaries are held in university libraries in the United States. The diary of Hieromonk Iuvenalii, one of the first Russian missionaries to Alaska, is preserved at the University of Berkeley, California.

Washington State University holds documents on the history of Russian Alaska from 1732-1796 from the collections of the University of Alaska and the Library of Congress of the USA.

The personal archives of the eminent theologian and philosopher G.F. Florovskii are held in the Firestone Library at Princeton University (New-Jersey) and in the library of Saint Vladimir’s Seminary in Crestwood. In the Princeton University library, after being processed (initial systematization and subsequent cataloging for public use), the archives of G.F. Florovskii are preserved in the Rare Books and Manuscripts section under the heading “The Georgii Florovskii Collection.” The reviewing and systematization of Father Georgii’s archives at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary is still in progress.

The Manuscript Department of the Library of Stanford University holds an interesting collection belonging to Grigorii Grabbe (1902-1995), Secretary of the ROCOR Synod from 1931, and then Bishop of Washington and Florida. Bishop Grigorii’s archive was purchased by the library from his heirs in 1998. The documents of the collection are contained in 14 boxes, spanning a period between 1930-1995. The collection is made up of documents of the ROCOR Synod, correspondence, lectures, and other creative manuscripts which belonged to Father Grigorii.

Among foreign church archives, we would like to highlight the archive of the Orthodox Church of America, on which a detailed report will be given by the archive’s administrator, Aleksei Liberovskii.

The largest center for the collection and preservation of Russian cultural heritage in the USA is the monastery in Jordanville (New York state), founded in 1930 and belonging to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The archive of the Holy-Trinity monastery has been in existence since 1983, when an advertisement was published in the newspaper Pravoslavania Rus’ calling on Russian émigrés to donate their personal archives to the monastery for the creation of a new archive. This archive contains collections of a personal nature, collections from organizations, above all the Holy-Trinity Theological Seminary itself (decisions of the pedagogical council, personal matters relating to students and teachers, records etc.), and a collection of photo albums.

Since the completion of the microfilming project, researchers have had the opportunity to work with these collections. The seminary archive has been used by visiting researchers from Russia, the USA, and Canada. A part of the collections which have been described and microfilmed are also in the process of being made available to researchers in the Russian Federation. On September 17, 2010, in the context of the celebrations for the 90^th anniversary of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (SA RF) in Moscow, an exchange of copies took place between the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville. The Director of the SA RF, S.V. Mironenko, and Archpriest Vladimir Tsurikov exchanged copies of a series of documents. Transferred to the archive of the Holy Trinity Seminary were copies of: the collection on the Temporary Higher Church Administration in Southern Russia; the collection on the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad (1921-1945); and the collection of Metropolitan Evlogii (Georgievskii). For its part, the archive of the Holy Trinity Seminary donated to the State Archive of the Russian Federation copies of a series of collections preserved in the seminary archive: the collections of V.K. Abdank-Kossovskii (1885-1962), P.N. Krasnov (1869-1947), S.V. Denisov (1900-1966), and the collection of the Russian All-Military Union. Cooperation between the archives has not stopped here; further exchanges of documents have taken place, as a result of which the seminary archive has received additions of copies of SA RF collections pertaining to the Holy, Righteous Saint John of Kronstadt, Protopresbyter Georgii Shavel’skii, and Archpriest Ioann Vostorgov. In its turn, the Holy Trinity Spiritual Seminary has passed on to the State Archive of the Russian Federation microfilm copies of collections belonging to church historians, publicists, and researchers: V.A. Maevskii, and the priest Stefan Liashevskii. The exchange of these valuable archival materials was the result of the good relations between the Holy Trinity Seminary and the SA RF, as evidenced by the earlier co-curated exhibitions dedicated to Metropolitan Antonii (Khrapovitskii) in Jordanville in 2006, and to the memory of Princess Vera Konstantinovna at the Pavlovsk State Museum and Reserve in 2007.

Worthy of special mention among church archives are the archive of the Synod of the ROCOR in New York, the archive of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand in Sydney, the archive of the German diocese of the ROCOR in Munich, and the archive of the Western American Diocese of the ROCOR.

The history of Russian Orthodoxy in Australia is reflected in documents in the archive of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand. The Australian Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was founded in 1946, when on December 12, 1946 Bishop Feodor (Rafal’skii, 1895-1955) was appointed as its first ruling hierarch. From the time of his arrival in Australia in 1948, Bishop Feodor also began putting together a diocesan archive. Preserved in this diocesan archive in Sydney are decrees and correspondence of ruling hierarchs, documents relating to parishes and diocesan monasteries, and to Russian social organizations. The documents held in the archive include not only documents concerning the Australian Diocese but also documents on Russian refugees from China on the Philippine island of Tubabao from 1949-1952.

Interesting information on the Archive of the German Diocese of the ROCOR is to be found in Anatolii Kinstler’s article, “The subject of Baltic Orthodoxy in the Archive of the German Diocese of the ROCOR,” published in the journal Pravoslavie v Baltii (Orthodoxy in the Baltics). The author makes a relatively detailed review of the collections, “Personal Files of Priests in the German Diocese” (F.2), “Questionnaires from Parishes in the German Diocese,” and also the “Diocesan Correspondence” collection (F.7).[24]A. Kinstler, “Pribaltiiskaia pravoslavnaia tema v Arkhive Germanskoi Eparkhii RPTsZ,” Pravoslavie v Baltii 12, no. 3, (2015):11-48. The archive also contains clerical reports of the parishes of the Diocese of Berlin and Germany, including details on church buildings and parish property, service records and clergy questionnaires, and statistical data on parishes.

One of the largest diocesan archives of the ROCOR is the archive of the Western American Diocese of the ROCOR. Geographically speaking, the documents of the archive encompass the following countries and continents: pre-revolutionary Russia, China (1930-1940), the Philippines (1949-1952), Australia (1950-1980), Europe (1950s), Latin America (1950-1980), and the USA (1920-2000).

Among the earliest documents contained in the archive are an edict of the Most Holy Governing Synod from 1902 appointing Innokentii (Figurovskii, 1863-1931) titular Bishop of Pereiaslavl, and a receipt for a charitable donation written by Saint John of Kronstadt (1829-1908). The main language of the documents in the archive is Russian, but there are also a significant number in English, Serbian, French, and other languages.

The archive holds decrees of ruling bishops, protocols of meetings of diocesan assemblies and conferences, parish registers, records from parishes in the diocese, personal dossiers of priests, and the like.

The personal collections in the archive include: Collection No. 1, belonging to Archbishop John of Shanghai and San Francisco (1896-1966) (F.1); and those of Archbishop Tikhon (Troitsky) (1883-1963) (F.2); of Bishop Nektarii (Kontsevich) (1905-1983) (F.3); and of Archbishop Antonii (Medvedev) (1908-2000) (F.4), and the like.

The archive also contains the following collections of documents: “The Russian Spiritual Mission in China”; “The History of the ROCOR. Councils of Bishops”; “Russian History, the Russian Church and the ROCOR in the Twentieth Century”; “The Glorification of the Saints: St. Herman of Alaska, St. Xenia of Petersburg”; “Fort Ross,” and the like.

The most important archive in France for historians of Russian Orthodoxy outside Russia is the Archive of the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Parishes in Western Europe. Its materials were used by Metropolitan Evlogii when writing his memoirs.

Among the personal collections of prominent Russian Orthodox hierarchs who served outside Russia preserved in foreign archives, the extensive collection of Priest-Martyr Archbishop John (Pommer) should be mentioned, which is held in the Latvian State Historical Archive (LGIA). The collection includes 66 units of around 7000 folios apiece. The collection contains a partially published correspondence between Archbishop John and Metropolitan Evlogii (Georgievskii).

Church archives have come on a long way in terms of their development. In the beginning, they comprised small collections of books necessary for conducting church services. Later on appear scholarly archives in monasteries, substantial libraries belonging to bishops or spiritual missions. Foreign church archives and libraries have played an especially important role. Like the Church itself, they have helped to maintain a link with a distant, and for the descendants of émigré families, unfamiliar Motherland, with her culture and history. Another specificity of such archives and libraries is the presence in their collections of a large number of rare editions, above all of pre-revolutionary and émigré origin, and also literature in foreign languages. One may state with certainty that the archival and bibliographic treasures of church archives and libraries have considerable historical and cultural significance not only for Russia but also for the countries where they are located.

New electronic technologies, which began entering the functioning of archives from the end of the twentieth century, make the lives of researchers considerably easier, in particular facilitating the task of searching for archival sources. Nowadays, decision-making and information-retrieval systems with in-built elements of analysis and artificial intelligence are emerging. Network technologies and telecommunications for work in the net are widely used, including distributed systems, global, regional, and local computer networks. Nationwide integrated information systems have been created, which may be accessed through the internet.[25]A.V. Popov, “Kul’turnaia i dokumental’naia pamiat’: sootnoshenie svoistva i aktualizatsiia,” Ural’skii istoriko-arkhivnyi forum. Materialy Vserossiiskogo nauchnogo foruma … Continue reading

In Russia, Rosarkhiv maintains a federal state information system (software program): the Central Archival Collection Catalogue (TsFK), which provides details on the composition of the Archival Collection of the Russian Federation and is designed as a source of information for users of archival documents. In all the state archives of the RF, an integrated information system has been set up, comprised of the following blocks: a repository of document descriptions, and also an array of digitized images of documents “attached” to the document descriptions; an “Accounts” block, containing passports, results of availability checks, and other accounts documents; a “Preservation” block forming and storing details on the condition of documents, report forms, archive storage room passports; an “archive reference system (NSA)” block containing the complete archive indexes reflecting the composition and contents of the archive collections; an “Acquisition” block recording in digital form details on the organizations and sources behind the archive collections; a “Reading Room” block containing information on users and the subject of their research.

One of the most effective ways of using modern information technology where archives are concerned is the creation and maintenance of archive websites. Archive websites accomplish the following tasks: providing reference information on the archive documents in the archives; publicizing the work of archives; providing help obtaining archival services; the organization of virtual exhibitions and the publication of archival documents; the popularization of archive administration.

In the present situation of the evolution of an information-based society, archives and knowledge of archives constitute an essential part of the global cultural and informational heritage of humanity. Bearing in mind the growing demands of researchers for the use of archival documents and the interests of the efficient development of scholarship, a good knowledge of archival reference systems (NSA) is essential. As a rule, researchers obtain information on the contents of document collections from inventories, reviews, catalogues, indexes, and guides to automated databases. As a result, the problem of the search for primary sources (documents) cannot be solved without knowing how to find one’s way around archive reference systems (NSA). Archival catalogues, put together by archivists, help in the search for archival documents, facilitate their identification and introduction into scholarly discussion. Thus, history, the contemporary state and developmental prospects of scholarly description, and the totality of archival catalogues reflecting the composition and contents of the archival heritage of our Motherland themselves, represent an inalienable part of Russian and world cultural heritage. The provision of timely and reliable information on the composition and contents of archival collections and new acquisitions is an important task, whose resolution leads to a more efficient use of this archival inheritance.

In our view, our society’s modern information system, complemented by archive reference systems (NSA), allows researchers of the history of the Russian Orthodox Church (any person searching in an archive may already be considered a researcher) to achieve their desired goals relatively quickly and to obtain the information they require.

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Archival Heuristics and the History of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad

Theses of the Presentation

Information about the authors

Abstract: Archival heuristics is an applied scholarly discipline which has recently emerged with the goal of constructing a heuristic algorithm. The algorithm consists, in the first instance, in methods of searching for primary sources on the basis of secondary information available in archival reference systems (Russ.: nauchno-spravochny apparat – NSA). The aim of this article is to provide a reliable heuristic algorithm to help scholars studying the history of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in their search for documents held in state archives and manuscripts departments of museums and libraries. It is addressed to historians dealing with the history of the Russian Orthodox Church as well as to anyone interested in the history of the Russian nation.

The Archival Collection of the RF is organized on three levels:

according to the National Archival Collection;
according to archive;
according to archival collection.

The first stage of a search for essential archive documents takes place on an inter-archival level, that is to say the archive or archives must be identified where the documents interesting the researcher may be held. Here considerable help may be afforded to the researcher by inter-archival guides, including ones located in the internet. The first port of call for a researcher into the Russian Orthodox Church abroad should be the “Архивы России” portal (https://rusarchives.ru/), where the database “Guides to Russian Archives” may be found, which contains more than one hundred guides to state archives. Also useful to researchers will be the guides: “The History of the Russian Orthodox Church in Documents from Regional Russian Archives”; [26]Istoriia Russkoi pravoslavnoi tserkvi v dokumentakh regional’nykh arkhivov Rossii: Annotirovannyi spravochnik-ukazatel’ (Moscow: Novospas. monastyr’, 1993), 681. “The History of the Russian Orthodox Church in Documents of the Federal Archives of Russia, and the Archives of Moscow and Saint Petersburg”;[27]Istoriya russkoy Pravoslavnoy tserkvi v dokumentakh federal‘nykh arkhivov Rossii, arkhivov Moskvy i Sankt-Peterburga: Annotirovannyy spravochnik-ukazatel‘ (Moscow: Novospas. … Continue reading “Archival Documents in the Libraries and Museums of the Russian Federation,”[28]Arkhivnye dokumenty v bibliotekakh i muzeiakh Rossiiskoi Federatsii: Spravochnik / Vseros. nauch.-issled. in-t dokumentovedeniia i arkh. dela (Moscow: Zven’ia, 2003), 623. and the like.

Of great help to researchers interested in the problem of the mutual relations of Russia and the Christian East will be the annotated index of the files and documents of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (SA RF), “Russia and the Christian East in Documents of the Archive of the Russian Federation (19^th-20^th centuries).”[29]Rossiia i Khristianskii Vostok v dokumentakh Gosudarstvennogo arkhiva Rossiiskoi Federatsii (XIX-XX vv.): annotirovannyi ukazatel‘ del i dokumentov / Gos. arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii; … Continue reading The index provides historians with a reliable and convenient heuristic tool and allows them to find their way quickly and efficiently around documents in the SA RF concerning the problem of Russian connections with Palestine, Syria, the Lebanon, and the Holy Land.

For researchers of foreign archives, the analytical digest “Documents on Russian History in Foreign Archives” by Professor E.V. Starostin may be of interest.[30]E.V. Starostin (compiler) Dokumenty po istorii Rossii v zarubezhnykh arkhivakh. Analiticheskii obzor (Moscow: Glavarkhiv USSR, VNIIDAD, 1987), 76.

Of particular significance for researchers of the Russian Church Abroad is a guide compiled by Archpriest Vladimir Tsurikov: “The History of Russia in Documents of the Holy-Trinity Seminary in Jordanville.”[31]V. Tsurikov, protoierei, Istoriia Rossii v dokumentakh arkhiva Sviato–Troitskoi dukhovnoi seminarii v Dzhordanville (Moscow: Izd-vo PSTGU, 2012), 195.

Let us examine the main repositories of documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad.

The Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA) contains collections of documents from the highest central institutions of the Russian Empire from the eighteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, from social organizations in this period, and also collections of documents of a personal origin. The most important body of documents relating to the history of Orthodoxy in foreign countries is held in the “Synodal Chancery,”[32]RGIA, F. 796. Op. 1-200. Ed. khr. 1-366005 and “Chancery of the Ober-Procuror of the Synod” collections.[33]M. V. Shkarovskii, “Formirovanie i ispol’zovanie fondov peterburgskikh arkhivov po istorii Russkoi pravoslavnoi tserkvi,” in M. V. Shkarovskii, Arkhivy v istorii. Istoriia v arkhivakh : … Continue reading

Historians of the most recent period in the History of the ROC may be interested in the collections “The Holy Council of the Orthodox Russian Church” and “The Chancery of Patriarch Tikhon and the Holy Synod,” also kept in the RGIA. Collections and documents in the repository of the RGIA are an invaluable source for historians of Russian Orthodoxy in foreign countries during the Synodal period.[34]E. V. Starostin, “Arkhivy Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi (10^th-20^th centuries),” E. V. Starostin, Vestnik arkhivista, no. 3-4 (2004): 313-326.

The State Archive of the Russian Federation contains documents of the highest official bodies and organs of state administration of the USSR for the period from 1917 to 1991, and of institutions of the RSFSR and the Russian Federation. Preserved in the SA RF are collections of a personal origin pertaining to church hierarchs, priests, and Church activists.[35]Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii [Elektronnyi resurs] / Federal’noe arkhivnoe agentstvo. — Elektron. dan., Moscow : Federal’noe arkhivnoe agentstvo, 2001; — . — Rezhim … Continue reading The archive contains part of the collections of the former Russian Historical Archive Abroad in Prague (RZIA), which were transferred to Moscow in 1946.[36]T.F. Pavlova (editor), Fondy Russkogo Istoricheskogo Arkhiva v Prage. Mezharkhivnyi putevoditel’, compiled A.I. Barkovets, V.E. Bogdanova, N.I. Vladimirtsev et al. (Moscow: ROSSPEN, 1999), 677. It also contains documents from the institutions of the governments of the White movement (1918-1922), including ones concerning the acts of the Temporary Higher Church Administrations.[37]N. Kriachko, “Arkhiv Iugo-Vostochnogo russkogo tserkovnogo Sobora 1919 g. kak istochnik po istorii Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi perioda Grazhdanskoi voiny”, N. Kriachko, Vestnik tserkovnoi … Continue reading

Among the collections on the history of the ROCOR at the SA RF, the collection “The Council of Religious Affairs attached to the Council of Ministers of the USSR” should especially be mentioned.[38]SA RF, F. 6991, Op. 1-11, Ed. khr. 1-13281 The collection is made up of the following categories of documents: correspondence between the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the USSR and the Moscow Patriarchate on the situation of the Orthodox Church abroad; copies of letters sent to the Moscow Patriarchate by representatives of members of the foreign clergy; information on the property of the ROCOR; documents on the ROC in Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Germany, Holland, China, Korea, Poland, Scandinavia, the USA, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and other countries of the Russian diaspora; profiles of foreign priests and hierarchs; dossiers of documents on the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, the Exarchate of Western Europe, and the Orthodox Church of America. The collection of documents also includes information and reports on the history of Orthodoxy in different regions, for example a report by Archpriest Dimitrii Mlodzianovskii on the history of Orthodoxy in Xinjiang, and the like.[39]A.V. Popov, “Istoriia russkogo zarubezhnogo pravoslaviia v otechestvennykh i zarubezhnykh arkhivakh,” Arkhivy Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi: puti iz proshlogo v nastoiashchee (Trudy … Continue reading

In the SA RF are preserved the personal collections of hierarchs and priests of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

In the SA RF is held the archival collection “The Temporary Higher Church Administration in South-Eastern Russia (Head of Military Operations in Southern Russia). Ekaterinodar. Taganrog.”[40]SA RF, F. R-3696, Op. 1-2, Ed. khr. 43 In reality, the Temporary Higher Church Administration in South Eastern Russia became the basis of a new jurisdictional formation, which was later to receive the name of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.[41]A.V. Popov, “Vremennye Vysshie Tserkovnye Upravleniia na territoriiakh, kontroliruemykh belogvardeiskimi pravitel’stvami,” Istoriia beloi Sibiri. Materialy VI mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi … Continue reading

It should be noted that in Russia, the greatest number of collections concerning the Russian Church Abroad is contained in the SA RF. This is true to the fullest extent of the archival collections which to one or another degree have to do with the history of Orthodoxy outside Russia. From among the set of archival documents on the history of the ROCOR preserved in the SA RF, the collection “The Archive of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad” merits particular attention.[42]S.V. Mironenko (editor in chief), Putevoditel’. Tom 4. Fondy Gosudarstvennogo arkhiva Rossiiskoi Federatsii po istorii belogo dvizheniia i emigratsii (Moscow: «ROSSPEN», 2004), XVIII, 798.

The history of the Russian Church Abroad is also reflected in other collections in the archive: “The Preparatory Commission for the Convocation of the Assembly of the Russian Church Abroad,” “The Brotherhood for the Burial of Orthodox Russian Citizens and the Maintenance of their Graves,” and also the personal collections of the church historians A.V. Kartashev, V.S. Rusak,[43]A.V. Popov, “Istorik Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi Vladimir Stepanovich Rusak: zhizn’ i tvorcheskoe nasledie,” Makar’evskie chteniia: materialy chetyrnadtsatoi mezhdunarodnoi … Continue reading Archpriest Innokentii Seryshev, the parish priest of the Russian church in Tokyo Archpriest Petr Bulgakov, Archpriest D. Konstantinov, and Protopresbyter Georgii Shavel’skii, among others.

In the 1990s, the SA RF received additions of microfilm versions of documents from foreign archives. Of especial significance are documents on the history of the Russian emigration originating from the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. On April 17, 1992, Roskomarkhiv, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and the English publishing house Chadwick-Healy signed a contract for the exchange of copies of historical documents, their replication and the distribution of the copies. In accordance with the contract, in 1993 and 1995, 4628 rolls of microfilm arrived in the SA RF on positive film (774 boxes), and were given a status equal to that of a collection (further – the Hoover collection). On October 2, 2002 a new series of microfilms arrived in the SA RF from the Hoover Institution, among which were more than two thousand reels with copies of 106 collections from the Hoover Institution and the Museum of Russian Culture in San-Francisco (85 collections).[44]K.B. Ul’ianitskii, “Dokumental’noe nasledie Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi v kollektsiiakh mikrofotokopii zarubezhnoi rossiki (SA RF),” Arkhivy Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi: puti iz proshlogo v … Continue reading

Collections and documents on the history of the Church Abroad are also preserved in other federal state archives: RGVIA, RGVA, RGA VMF, RGASPI, RGANI, RGAE, RGAFD, RGAKFD, RGIA DV, among others.[45]A.V. Popov, Rossiiskoe pravoslavnoe zarubezh’e: Istoriia i istochniki. S prilozheniem sistematicheskoi bibliografii (Moscow: IPVA, 2005), 111-137

In the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (AVPRI), documents are preserved on the history of Russian Orthodox missions abroad.[46]Arkhiv vneshnei politiki Rossiiskoi imperii. Putevoditel’, (Moscow: MID Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 1995), 452 The collection “Department of Human Resources and Domestic Affairs” (F.159) contains materials on the staff and personnel of Russian Orthodox churches outside Russia, including clerical records, lists of serving clergy, matters relating to pensions, distinctions, the granting of leave and transfer to another place of service for clergymen, and church financial reports, which were within the purview of the MID. In the same collection are held correspondence between the Ministry, the Synod and foreign institutions regarding the construction and restoration of Orthodox churches attached to Russian embassies and missions, plots of land received as gifts, the acquisition of new buildings for church needs and land for Russian cemeteries in foreign countries, donations for the construction of churches, rented property, and expenses for church maintenance. Also in the collection are preserved short memos with historical information on Russian churches abroad, inventories of church property, and other materials. A guide to the AVPRI collections was published in 1996. It contains a description of the documents of the College of Foreign Affairs (KID), of central, foreign, and temporary foundations of the MID, collections of documentary materials, personal collections, and microfilms of archives which were trophies of war.

The Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (AVP RF) is the largest repository of documents on the history of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation and the USSR. Among documents concerning the history of the Church, particular worthy of note are documents from embassies and consulates in one way or another connected with different Orthodox jurisdictions. In the main, these are informational memos and analytical notes on the position of Orthodox Churches of diverse jurisdictions in one country or another. For example, documents on the history of Russian Orthodoxy in America, preserved in the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (AVP RF) in the referencing collection on the USA.[47]E. V. Dolia, “Dokumenty Arkhiva vneshnei politiki Rossiiskoi Federatsii o vzaimodeistvii Ekzarkhata Russkoi pravoslavnoi tserkvi v SShA i Moskovskogo patriarkhata posle Vtoroi mirovoi voiny,” … Continue reading

Among foreign archives holding large sets of documents on the history of the Russian Church Abroad, the Library of Congress of the USA is of particular significance.[48]A.V. Popov, “Arkhivnaia rossika v Biblioteke Kongressa SShA,” Makar’evskie chteniia materialy XII mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii, (Gorno-Altaisk: GAGU, 2017), 226-230. The largest part of the archival material relating to things Russian preserved in the Manuscript Department of the Library of Congress of the USA are collections and documents on the Russian Orthodox Church, obtained by the Library’s Russian librarian M.Z. Vinokurov (1894-1983) in 1927 and 1940. The archival documents on the Russian Orthodox Church obtained with the help of M.Z. Vinokurov by the Library of Congress in 1927 and 1940 comprise more than 150,000 units. Among these documents are the archive of the Alaskan Spiritual Administration and Spiritual Consistory. In the main, these are documents on ecclesiastical foundations, materials of the Russian-American Company connected to its mutual relations with the ROC, documents of a personal nature (diaries and travel journals), registers and annual reports on the condition of church property, and the like.

Washington State University holds documents on the history of Russian Alaska from 1732-1796 from the collections of the University of Alaska and the Library of Congress of the USA.

Interesting information on the Archive of the German Diocese of the ROCOR is to be found in Anatolii Kinstler’s article, “The subject of Baltic Orthodoxy in the Archive of the German Diocese of the ROCOR,” published in the journal Pravoslavie v Baltii (Orthodoxy in the Baltics). The author makes a relatively detailed review of the collections, “Personal Files of Priests in the German Diocese” (F.2), “Questionnaires from Parishes in the German Diocese,” and also the “Diocesan Correspondence” collection (F.7).[49]A. Kinstler, “Pribaltiiskaia pravoslavnaia tema v Arkhive Germanskoi Eparkhii RPTsZ,” Pravoslavie v Baltii 12, no. 3, (2015):11-48. The archive also contains clerical reports of the parishes of the Diocese of Berlin and Germany, including details on church buildings and parish property, service records and clergy questionnaires, and statistical data on parishes.

New electronic technologies, which began entering the functioning of archives from the end of the twentieth century, make the lives of researchers considerably easier, in particular facilitating the task of searching for archival sources. Nowadays, decision-making and information-retrieval systems with in-built elements of analysis and artificial intelligence are emerging. Network technologies and telecommunications for work in the net are widely used, including distributed systems, global, regional, and local computer networks. Nationwide integrated information systems have been created, which may be accessed through the internet.[50]A.V. Popov, “Kul’turnaia i dokumental’naia pamiat’: sootnoshenie svoistva i aktualizatsiia,” Ural’skii istoriko-arkhivnyi forum. Materialy Vserossiiskogo nauchnogo foruma … Continue reading