Moral and Religious Bankrupcy of the Moscow Patriarchate

[Methodius]

The communist regime was based on "class values", the notion that right and wrong are determined by the interests of the dominant class. In the wake of communism's fall, moral coherence for society could, as a result, only be achieved through the establishment of universal values. That, as a practical matter, required the efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church and, perhaps, the government. The church, however, was crippled by its history of collaboration with the KGB, and successive governments emphasized not the sanctity of the individual as a source of values but the prerogatives of the state.

The story of the post-communist Russian Orthodox Church is one of lost opportunities. After the failure of the 1991 pro-communist coup, Gleb Yakunin, a dissident priest and member of the parliament, was briefly given access to a section of the KGB archives which showed that the top hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate were agents of the KGB. The most important KGB agent was the Patriarch, Alexei II, himself. Yakunin wrote to Alexei and said that he and other church leaders should deny the charges of collaboration or ask for forgiveness, pointing out that "our people are forgiving." But only one archbishop, Khrizostom of Lithuania, had the courage to acknowledge that he worked as an agent for the KGB and to reveal his codename, "Restavrator." All of the other implicated church leaders remained silent.

With the transition to capitalism, the church quickly became the beneficiary of official privileges, including the right to import duty-free alcohol and tobacco and to trade in diamonds, gold andoil. Not surprisingly, this gave rise to widespread corruption. Although the church claimed to lack funds for charitable activities and religious education, its business interests produced enormous profits that then had a tendency to disappear. For example, in 1995 the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery, which is directly subordinated to the Patriarchate, earned $350 million from the sale of alcohol, and the Patriarchate's department of foreign church relations earned $75 million from the sale of tobacco. But the Patriarchate reported an annual budget in 1995-96 of only $2 million.

Against this background, the role of religion in the country's moral resurrection was necessarily limited. Church hierarchs pursued their commercial interests and were in turn imitated by ordinary priests who pursued theirs, blessing businesses, banks, homes and automobiles and exorcising "unclean powers" for a fee. At the same time, the church did not allow itself the slightest political role, remaining silent on such genuine moral issues as Russia's pervasive corruption and the killing of noncombatants in Chechnya.

From a Russian site, http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/100.htm

[Methodius]

THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE

Unlimited servility : consecration of a church in the Lubianka

So far, the Moscow Patriarch Alexis Ridiger (former KGB agent “Drozdov”) never was subject to criticism in the Russian press. Rather the opposite, all his declarations and acts even the controversial ones, always met with positive reactions in the “media”. However, in his servility towards the authorities, he undoubtedly went too far when he consecrated the church of St. Sophia of Divine Wisdom for the use of FSB (Federal Security Service as the former KGB agency was recently renamed). This act provoked an unprecedented, widespread uproar in Russia.

According to the newspaper “Noviya Izvestiya” (“New News”) of 12th March in his article by Eugene Komarov it is reported that Alexis Ridiger has consecrated a church which was closed by the atheists in 1934 and renovated in August of last year. According to the newspaper, “only now, when the standing of the special service troops has declined, was this means of information useful: once again the guardiens in the black robes are called to be defenders of the regime - after all, the old horse will not damage the furrow. During the Soviet years the KGB constantly used the ‘tserkovniki’(members of the church) to support their actions... After the consecration, the director of the FSB Nicholas Patrushev thanked His Beatitude Patriarch Alexis”. During his speech he pointed out that the members of the staff have a difficult task to defend the safety of the Russian government. He was echoed by the Patriarch who, according to Interfax, expressed the hope that “the prayers in the new church would help the members of the FSB to carry out the difficult duty of securing the safety of the country from external and internal, if not exactly enemies, then ill-wishers. Then, in addition to the already existing doctrine of the security (in the disbandment of the independent TV) the Patriarch declared that ‘today, also the spiritual security in Russia happens to be under threat because there are powers which intrude into our daily life and make attempts to fill the spiritual vacuum’. In other words, he actually asked the Chekists to help him with their own methods in the struggle against its competitors: Protestants and Catholics”. As the ceremony concluded, the Patriarch expressed the hope that the residents of Moscow and the members of the FSB “ will often visit this church”.

E. Komarov quite reasonably notes that “the church is on the agency’s territory, so that most naturally one could visit it just in two ways: either by becoming a member of the FSB, or by being dragged into to the inner court of the Lubianka in a van marked ‘Meat’ as in the Soviet days.

Then Komarov reminds us that it was precisely in the torture-chambers of the Lubianka that thousands of bishops, clergy and lay people of the Russian Orthodox Church perished and gives details of the KGB membership of Patriarch “Drozdov”.

The national newspaper Isvestiya RU of 6th March published an article entitled “Chekists Now Have a Place to Pray”. It reports that on the outside wall of the church there is a gold plaque , stating that the church was restored “by the zeal of the FSB”. The newspaper reports that the majority of donations came from the Center of Civil Connections of the FSB. “Practically,all of the donors have served in the ranks of the security agencies’”.

The consecration of the Church in the Lubianka was criticized by the Internet “inoSMIRU” in an article by Miriam Neibert entitled “A Russian Spy Who Came to Church” and which directs the attention of the readers to: “today, the connection of spying activities with religion does not surprise any more in Russia. The biggest example is presented by President Vladimir Putin himself, who used to be a KGB agent and under Yeltsin’s tenure was head of the internal FSB reconnaissance and who at major holidays goes to the church in front of the entire nation and maintains friendly relations with the Patriarch...Definitely, the Russian Orthodox Church has no problems with the internal reconnaissance service as the organizations defending human rights and the environment might.”

[Methodius]

RUSSIAN PATRIARCH WAS KGB AGENT, FILES SAY
Patriarch Alexiy II received KGB "Certificate of Honour"
by Seamus Martin
The Irish Times, 23 September 2000

RUSSIA: The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexiy II of Moscow and All Russia, was a long-serving KGB agent and even received the agency's "Certificate of Honor", according to archive documents left behind by the Soviet spy agency in Estonia.

The papers detail the activities of Patriarch Alexiy, who was code-named "Agent Drozdov" (the thrush), in actions against orthodox clergy and believers.

Patriarch Alexiy has been a strong supporter of President Putin, himself a former KGB agent, and has issued public statements defending Mr Putin's conduct of the war in Chechnya and his stance on the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk. He has consistently opposed all proposed visits to Russia by Pope John Paul II.

Under his patriarchate the church has received special privileges, including the right to import alcohol and tobacco at reduced rates of duty for sale in the Russian Federation.

There have been allegations against the Patriarch for some time but they have been consistently denied by the church. The most recent denial was made on Wednesday by a church spokesman, Father Vsevolod Chaplin, who said: "There are no data indicating that Patriarch Aleksiy II was an associate of the special services, and no classified documents bear his signature."

But the Keston Institute, an Anglican religious rights organisation, has informed The Irish Times that it has "reviewed all the available documentary evidence from the various archives of the KGB" and has concluded that the allegations are based on fact.

Representatives of the Keston Institute have had access to documents in Tallinn which reveal that the Patriarch was recruited by the Estonian KGB on February 28th, 1958. Although he is referred to only as "Drozdov" the documents make it clear that they refer to the then Father Alexiy Ridiger as the personal details given match those of no other priest of the Estonian diocese.

The document in the Estonian State Archive (record group 131, file 393, pages 125-126) signed by the chairman of the Estonian KGB, Col I.P.Karpov, and the head of the Fourth Department "Belyayev" notes that Drozdov "positively recommended himself" to the KGB.

It adds: "During secret rendezvous he was punctilious, energetic and convivial. He is well-oriented in theoretical questions of theology and the international situation. He has a willing attitude to the fulfillment of our tasks and has already provided materials deserving attention which are forming the basis for documentation of the criminal activity of a member of the leadership of the Johvi Orthodox church . . .

"In addition, `Drozdov' also provided valuable material for the case under way against the priest Povedsky. At present he is working on improving his knowledge of German. After consolidating the agent's experience in practical work with the organs of state security in the cultivation of agents, we intend also to use him in our interests by sending him to capitalist states as a member of church delegations."

KGB papers in the Moscow archive state that Drozdov was sent to England in 1969 as part of a church delegation, that he and another agent were involved in "educational work" with monks in Pskov in western Russian in March 1983 and that he was sent on a mission to Portugal in 1985.

According to Keston, a file in the archive dated February 1988 states: "An order of the USSR KGB chairman was prepared to award Agent Drozdov the Certificate of Honor."

Taken from: http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews

[Methodius]

Patriarch with a KGB Past?
By Arnold Beichman
THE SCHWARZ REPORT, January 2001

Code: Select all

  Russia may have shut down access to Soviet archives but apparently there are still places where those archives are to be found examined and made public. One of these places is Estonia, a onetime Soviet state for a half-century.

In August 1994, Russia removed its last remaining occupying troops and tanks from Estonia. What apparently Russia didn't remove were the KGB archives. And a KGB file that has just been made public allegedly reveals that the present head of the Russian Orthodox Church, 70-year-old, white bearded Patriarch Alexiy II of Moscow and of all Russia, was a "long-serving KGB agent and was even awarded the agency's 'Certificate of Honor."'

The report comes from the Keston Institute, an Anglican religious rights organization, located One reason why the report appeared in an Irish daily is that Patriarch Alexiy II has adamantly opposed any visits by Pope John Paul II to the Russian Federation, a position supported by Russian President Putin. No reigning pope has visited Moscow since the Great Schism of 1054 split the eastern and western branches of Christianity.

The KGB papers describe the alleged activities of Patriarch Alexiy's actions against orthodox clergy and believers. His KGB code-name was "Agent Drozdov," Russian for the bird thrush. According to the archives, he was recruited by the Estonian branch of the KGB on Feb. 28, 1958, when he was known as Father Alexiy Ridiger. Although born in then independent Estonia before World War II, Patriarch Alexiy is an ethnic Russian. He served as an orthodox priest until he was seconded to Moscow during the Gorbachev era.

  Patriarch Alexiy has been a strong supporter of President Vladimir Putin, himself a KGB agent for 15 years. The churchman has publicly defended Mr. Putin's conduct of the war in Chechnya and his much criticized behavior in the aftermath of the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk. Despite earlier denials by a church spokesman, Father Vsevold Chaplin, the Keston Institute, which presses for religious freedom in the former communist bloc, said it had "reviewed all the available documentary evidence from the various archives of the KGB." Its conclusion: "Drozdov" and Patriarch Alexiy were the same individual since the personal details given in the archive match those of no other priest of the Estonian diocese.

There is nothing new in the relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the czarist and Bolshevik regimes. Richard Pipes, the Harvard historian, has written that "since the time of Peter the Great, the Russian Orthodox Church was to an extreme degree dependent on the state ... The clergy were duty-bound to report to the police any information of conspiracies against the emperor or the government, including that obtained during confession. They also had to denounce the appearance of suspicious strangers in their parishes."

Although the church had been persecuted under V. I. Lenin and Josef Stalin, World War II forced a reconciliation. Stalin met with high church officials Sept. 4, 1943, and a deal was made. High clergy were placed on the same footing as high state and party officials. Churchmen were among the first to receive decorations after the war.

According to the historians Mikhail Heller and Alexander Nekrich, the church became "an active ally of the Soviet government" in July 1926 following the arrest of Metropolitan Sergii as the Patriarch. On his release in March 1927, he published a declaration of submission to the Bolshevik regime.

Control over the church took the form of control over the clergy, from the patriarch to the humblest lay brother. Admission to the three seminaries and church academies were strictly controlled. Each candidate was selected by local committees of the KGB. Seminaries had to listen to lectures such as "Lenin's Teachings on Communist Morality and the Fundamental Principles of Moral Education."

  The documents about Patriarch Alexiy in the Estonian State Archive are signed by the KGB chairman, Col. I. P. Karpov. In one memorandum, he describes "Agent Drozdov" as providing "valuable material for the case underway against the priest Povedsky." He added: "After consolidating the agent's experience in practical work with the organs of state security in the cultivation of agents, we intend also to use him in our interests by sending him to capitalist states as a member of church delegations."

KGB papers in the Moscow archive show "Drozdov" was sent to England in 1969 as part of a church delegation, that he and another agent were involved in "educational work" with monks in Pskov in Western Russia in March 1983 and that he was sent on a mission to Portugal in 1985.

Editors' Note: What this information shows beyond a shadow of a doubt is that the Communist regime in the Soviet Union did not simply persecute the Orthodox Church, nor was the Church merely a victim. Rather, the Communists turned the Moscow Patriarchate into an active arm of the KGB which persecuted its own clergy and believers. The Church hierarchy cooperated with the atheists in the oppression and imprisonment (and, oftentimes, the resulting death) of its own faithful.

http://www.orthodoxpress.org/ocw/ocw_1521.htm

[Justin Kissel]

The problem with such things is that it's hard to tell who's version is closest to the truth.

[尼古拉前执事]

That is why we must pray. But Alexy II being a KGB agent has been shown by secular writers that have nothing to do with the Church. Alexy has never denied it that I know of, rather just wishes to downplay it.