In society

The personnel revolution of Patriarch Kirill

April 3, 2009 Alexey Makarkin

At the first meeting of the Patriarch, the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill showed that he was going to manage the church without dividing this function with “Man No. 2”, which was traditionally manager of affairs, a kind of prime minister of the Church.

Recall that the management of the Patriarchate was headed by Metropolitan Clement, who was the only rival of Vladyka Cyril in the struggle for the patriarchate. After his defeat in the elections, it became clear that he would not stay at his post for a long time. The forecasts were justified - at a meeting of the Synod, Metropolitan Clement was transferred to a much more modest position of chairman of the publishing department. Now he has ceased to be a permanent member of the Synod, who, in position, is the manager of affairs (also one of the regular members includes Metropolitans of Kiev, St. Petersburg, Krutitsky, Minsk, Chisinau and chairman of the external church relations department). Moreover, over the past two decades, the role of the publishing unit of the Patriarchate has fallen sharply. If, with the head of the Church and Purchasing Sphere, which headed it in Soviet times, Metropolitan Pitirima (Nechaev) was an actual monopolist in its extremely modest in its scale, now the situation has fundamentally changed. A number of monasteries and church-educational institutions have their publishers, there are entire publishing firms specializing in the release of Orthodox literature, not to mention the fact that religious themes also publish purely secular structures. Thus, Vladyka Clement was on the church-administrative periphery.

Another fact is more interesting: the new full -fledged business manager was never appointed. His duties are temporarily entrusted to the provincial bishop, the Archbishop of Saransky and Mordovo Barsanuphius, which was not known in the capital's circles, which was previously not seen surrounded by the new Patriarch. It is possible that he will become the chairman of a kind of “liquidation commission” in the most recently one of the most influential institutions of the Patriarchate, the head of which was considered one of the most likely successors of the patriarch. Apparently, such a “understudy” (or “counterweight”) is simply not needed by the energetic lord Cyril - an unprecedented case for the post -war history of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, the example of such actions can be found among Catholics: in 1944-1958, Pope Pius XII did without the State Secretary, also a kind of church “prime minister”. However, the status of the pope - the infallible head of the church - is significantly different from the powers of the Orthodox Patriarch, which is only the first bishop of his church.

Other organizational and personnel decisions made on the Synod confirm that Patriarch Kirill fully controls the situation in the church - unlike his predecessor, who often had to go on serious compromises with various church groups of influence. So, immediately after the election in 1990, Alexy II, the patriarch of their posts, lost only a few bishops from the encirclement of Patriarch Pimen, transferred to distant dioceses - the permanent members of the Synod then remained at their posts. Only in 1992, Alexy managed to get the dismissal of his main competitor - the Kyiv Metropolitan and the former Patriarchal Locumsteper Filaret - and even because he restored all other permanent members of the Synod against himself.

Now, the new Patriarch was able to achieve not only the dismissal of Clement, but also the formation of the church administration of his choice. At the same time, he made two decisions that have been suggested for a long time - about the separation of the department of external church ties and his patrimony, the Smolensk and Kaliningrad diocese. It was obvious that the department could not cope with a huge number of diverse functions, and the diocese consists of two regions that do not border each other. It is clear that for Metropolitan Cyril, such a reorganization would mean a strong hardware defeat that reduces his influence on church affairs. However, what was unprofitable to the Metropolitan becomes quite attractive to the Patriarch. Having divided the department, he was able to “advance” to high posts not one, but at once his fourth direct nominees. Now, the department is at the head of the department, Bishop Ilarion, who took an active part in the election campaign of the future Patriarch, and before that, who was his subordinates as a managing Vienna diocese. He, by position, becomes a permanent member of the Synod, that is, enters the “top layer” of the church elite. Its functions will include relations with the Orthodox and non -Orthodox churches (including the recently activated dialogue with Catholics), as well as with state institutions and institutions of civil society in far abroad countries.

Former Deputy Metropolitan Cyril, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, headed the newly created department for the interaction of the church and society, which will carry out connections “with legislative authorities, political parties, professional and creative unions, other civil society institutions in the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate” (that is, not only in Russia, but also in the post -Soviet space). Another former deputy of the current Patriarch, Bishop Egorievsky Mark, headed another new body - the secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate for foreign institutions. Finally, the editor of the Orthodox magazine "Thomas" Vladimir Legoyda (by the way, this year this year, which was included in the new composition of the Council for the Development of Civil Society under President Medvedev) was headed by the newly created information department.

Among other decisions, we note the reconstruction of the financial and economic department of the Patriarchate, liquidated in 1997, the former head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem Archimandrite Tikhon, who will be elevated to the rank of bishop, was appointed its chairman. One of the closest employees of Alexy II, the chairman of the religious and catechesis department, Archimandrite John (Economics), was replaced by Bishop Mercury, who previously managed the patriarchal parishes in the United States. Both new appointments, who previously worked abroad, were the direct subordinates of the new Patriarch.

A little surprise was the fact that the Bishop of Vyazemsky Ignatius did not become the successor of the new Patriarch at the Smolensk Department - earlier he actually managed parishes in the region. However, over the past year, he has become a member of two scandalous stories. The first is a tough conflict with local Protestants who dared to teach children in their own Sunday school - in the current situation could even contribute to a church career. However, the second - the most active support during the election campaign of the candidate for the post of mayor of Smolensk from United Russia, who suffered a crushing defeat - apparently, and became the reason that Vladyka Ignatius did not become the ruling bishop. However, he did not lose his chief - he was transferred to Moscow and appointed Patriarchal Vicar.

Such an active personnel policy of Patriarch Kirill is determined by the same circumstance as his election by the locomotor after the death of Alexy II - the creation of a powerful coalition from the number of elderly permanent members of the Synod, united around the new Primate - these are Metropolitans Juvenal, Filaret, Vladimir (Kotlyarov). They, like Cyril, were students or associates of the late Metropolitan Nicodemus (Rotov), ​​who was in a competitive relationship with the future Patriarch Alexy II. Now they provide the most possible assistance to the new Patriarch, helping him establish real control over the situation in the church.

Author-First Vice President of the Center for Political Technology

Photos from the site www.patriarchia.ru