Bishops in the service of Lubyanka

History of the Hierarchs of the Ukrainian Church recruited by the NKGB of the USSR

Radio Liberty continues to publish documents from the dignity of the Archives of the Security Service of Ukraine that opened after the Ukrainian “Revolution” (other materials can be read about this, for example, here , here or here ).

In December 2017, Russian historian Andrei Berman published an archival document of the 2nd Directorate of the NKGB of the USSR, which told about the plans of the Chekists to “pick up candidates” to send 1945 to the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. This cathedral was the first after the famous “Meeting of Stalin with Priests” and the actual legalization by the Soviet authorities of the Moscow Patriarchate and the last before the final liquidation as a separate structure of the renovation church created by the Bolsheviks in 1922. At the end of the document, it was prescribed: "All agents from among the bishops, participants in the Pre -Board of the November Meeting, upon arrival in Moscow, contact employees of the 5th department of the NKGB of the USSR." New information about how the clergy collaborated with Lubyanka (or sabotage this cooperation, which also happened) can be found in a memorandum from the SBU archive in Kiev (archival cipher-OGA SBU F.16, op.1, d.562, l.141-152) , a copy of the Liberty of Ukrainian archives Konstantin Boguslavsky provided radio.

"A report on the work and behavior of agents from among the bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine" was compiled by the People's Commissar of the Ukrainian SSR, Lieutenant General Sergei Savchenko and was addressed to the head of the 2nd Directorate of the NKGB of the USSR Peter Fedotov . It is dated January 15, 1946 and contains information about 7 bishops, three of which are recognized as "unreliable", and the rest - "honestly working with our organs." The note, which, as follows from its text, was not the only document of this kind, only the agent nicknames of the hierarchs are mentioned, however, the described episodes of their activities and other details make it possible to establish the identity of these people with a high degree of probability. The document, according to the mark made on it, was declassified back in March 2013, but historians were able to get access to it only now.

The content of the note is commented by the priest of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the historian and host of the Radio Liberty program "from the Christian point of view" Yakov Krotov: "It is quite possible to identify these people. Although some toponyms are still indicated in the report, some of the geographical names are still indicated, as well as the real names and surnames of priests who are not the main defendants in the document. The main source of information for this is the hearing for this is the help of this. Metropolitan Manuel Lemeshevsky about the bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate, some facts are easy to verify using materials available in open sources on the Internet. "

"The 2nd Directorate of the NKGB is the counterintelligence department: Ukraine in 1946 is perceived as a territory conquered, moreover, bordering on other recently conquered countries, and in this sense is not yet" internal. "However, it is obvious that the Kremlin retained religion primarily from foreign policy considerations as one of the channels of influence.

Lieutenant General Peter Vasilievich Fedotov -the same age of the century, was born in 1901, died in 1963. At the age of 19 - a censor for the "cavalry": under this name, Trotsky revived the idea of Cossacks - a soldier who feed themselves. The service carried in Grozny. In September 1937, a rapid take -off, transferred to Moscow. After the twentieth congress in 1956, he was expelled from the party, dismissed in a reserve on official inconsistency, "for gross violations of socialist legality." But, of course, it was not given to court.

The author of the document is the chief Chekist of Ukraine Sergey Romanovich Savchenko (1904–1966) - even a little younger than Fedotov. Born in Skadovka (Khersonshchina), judging by many Ukrainians in the text (for example, "compicacle" - "put in bishops") - a Ukrainian. He was taken at the 17th years of the years as a clerk, even climbed the career ladder, headed Ukrainian Chekists during the war, moved to Moscow in 1951, and in 1955 he was also dismissed "on official non-compliance." Savchenko was the initiator and organizer of the murder of the Greek Catholic Bishop Theodore Romzh on November 1, 1947.

In Ukraine and in 1946, and later there were twice as many active temples than in Russia: about six thousand. Ukrainian bishops, bishops set for Ukraine later served in different regions of Russia, and usually led the corresponding "teams". In a caricature form, the XVIII century situation was repeated, when the Ukrainian clergy was actively “imported” into Russia as having a higher educational level.

The “calm” agent: “shows a tendency to evade the fulfillment of the tasks of an intelligence nature entrusted to him”, “the facts of a disloyal attitude towards the Soviet regime are established.”

The “calm” agent is Bishop Boris Vic (1906–1965), the Saratovets (why he wrote himself a secretary from Saratov that he reproached with a note). Vick began church life in the renovation church, in 1934 moved to the Moscow Patriarchate, but he was arrested in 1935. However, he was released in a year and a half, and now it is clear why it was clear now. - He became an agent.

What is behind the words "arrived in the diocese in March 1944, having a special task of the NKGB of the USSR of an intelligence nature"? Vic was Vicar ("deputy") of the bishop, who was arrested three months before his arrival - Simon Ivanovsky, who survived the occupation in Chernigov. A year later, in 1945, Vika was made by Bishop of Chernigov, and Ivanovsky, who was 18 years older than Vika, spent 10 years in hard labor, at Lesopoval.

Vic is characterized in a note not too positively. He wrote only three denunciations on his priests - few! It has a "tendency to evade" tasks. He was given the task - to fight with the bishop of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, but he does not fight. True, here the Chekists themselves gave Mahu: Bishop Gennady Shiprikevich, whom they demanded to fight him, actually managed to go west, died in 1972 in Canada, where there was a huge Ukrainian diaspora from 1944 refugees.

Vick took a dubious deputy for himself, bribed the Commissioner for the Russian Orthodox Church, corresponded with the exiled professor of the Kazan Theological Academy N.V. Petrov. Vic - this is known, although it is not mentioned in the given document - he served very magnificently, which caused the displeasure of the authorities.

It is interesting that a couple of months after the date that the document is dated, Vika, together with the bishop Sergius Larin (also a former renovationist), was sent to Japan to reunite the Japanese Orthodox Church with Moscow. The Americans Vika and Larina did not let. The mission was most likely controlled by counterintelligence. Vick several times led the dioceses of the Moscow Patriarchate abroad, including in the United States. So he still turned out to be reliable by the agent. "

The Koltsov agent: “expresses anti -Soviet sentiments among the clergy, appoints priests suspicious of anti -Soviet activities and related to the OUN underground to the best parishes of priests (OUN - the organization of Ukrainian nationalists). "In pursuit of personal profit, he introduced all kinds of taxes on the clergy in his diocese."

“Agent Koltsov” - Bishop Feodosius of Koverninsky (1895–1980). The indigenous Ukrainian, a priest since 1916, moved to renovationism, served in Chernivtsi. In 1945 he moved to the Moscow Patriarchate and was placed by Bishop Chernivtsi and Bukovinsky. The report reports that the judgment of 1937 was removed from Corgolinsky 1937 The years are not mentioned among the repressed - it is quite possible that he was convicted, but after consent to the recruitment, he was released - like Boris Vic.

Koverninsky, as follows from the document, is not considered too well -bearing, he did not make his career, since 1956 to death he lived at rest in Kyiv. Perhaps he was affected by excessive greed, colorfully described by Savchenko. A nasal joke has been preserved about Kovleninsky - and it was related to money: “Being at rest in Kyiv, he decided to experience how other bishops relate to him. He sent congratulations and money in the amount of 50 rubles to the festival of Christ's birth in 1976 with a request to pray for him during his life and after his death: who would react to his request. who did not answer his letter, he repeated him, wanting to find out if they agree to pray for free or for money. "

The author of the note Sergei Savchenko reproaches Koleninsky for appointing a certain Yuri Stefyuk , 1896, supposedly an active member of the OUN. Indeed, Yuri Stefyuk was to the OUN, but he fled with the Germans in 1944, and when he returned illegal in 1951, he was immediately arrested and turned off-he made a book that denounced the OUN (“On the Svitla”, Kyiv, 1962). Apparently, the reason for this inconsistency is confusion in the NKGB card index. "

The “solid” agent: “gives parishes to priests-western priests”, “leads a two-dealing line”, “hides data on the anti-Soviet mood of the priesthood from the UNKGB”, “groups around itself a hostile element”, “does not provide significant materials about the anti-Soviet activity of the clergy.” "Taken in active intelligence development."

The “agent” is a bishop of Vinnitsa and Bratslavsky Varlaam Borisevich (1899–1975). A native of Volyn, there he served, under Pilsudski he even fell on the attacks on Catholics. During the war, his wife died under the bombing. Savchenko was unhappy with him: Borisevich began to put his “his”, the local priests. The clergy were pounded on the Lord of the Chekists, and Savchenko demanded that the “firm” be removed in the loyalty of the “firm”.

Apparently, the lesson went to the agent Borisevich for the future: it even came to the point that the believers complained about him to the patriarch - they say, Vladyko does not protect the church, but even vice versa. The patriarch, of course, did not take measures, on the contrary, in 1961 Borisevich headed the Belarusian Church. Hundreds of churches closed with him, the Minsk seminary stopped classes. In 1963, an agent of "solid" had a stroke, and this was the end of his career. "

Glebov agent: “Active work on the elimination of the Uniate Church ”, “actively joined the work to identify the hostile element”, “is under constant agent observation”.

"The list of agents who" honestly work with our organs "opens" Glebov " - Bishop Makarii Oksiyuk (1884–1961). The chronological order of" Notes "remains intact - from earlier ordinations to later.

Oxyuk - a major Byzantologist, professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy since 1917, became a priest in 1942, when it was widowed. April 22, 1945 - after recruitment - was delivered by Bishop of Lviv and Ternopol. The idea was that to fight Greek Catholics, primarily a “respected” person was required, at least without a “renovation history”. The liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church was planned in March 1944, in April, Oxyuk was ordained when he arrives in Lviv, arrest the head of the Greek Catholics of Cardinal Joseph Slipo, in March 1946 the Lviv Cathedral was held, at which the liquidation is carried out-with the participation of Glebov. Five years later, he is “thrown to Poland”: the Moscow Patriarchate is selected by the Polish Orthodox Church from Constantinople, Oxyuk heads the “raider seizure” - the operation of counterintelligence. He is not convicted of anti-Soviet remarks, he is hunting for Greek Catholics regularly, and yet "is under our constant intelligence supervision." "Trust, but check."

The USOV agent: “Completed a special task of the 2nd Directorate of the NKGB of the USSR”, “Has a great work to identify the agents of the Romanian and German intelligence agencies and another anti-Soviet element”.

“Agent of the“ USOV ” - Bishop of Sumy and Akhtyrsky Ilarion Prokhorov (1889–1973). The priest was still pre -revolutionary supplies, in 1938 he was sent for hard labor for the Far East, on September 28, 1945 he was put to the bishops. In 1947 he was awarded the Order for Valiant Work in the Great Patriotic War, which is quite enough It is piquant that he lived in almost the whole war in the occupation on September 2, 1943, after which Prokhorov "was there for 2 months as a representative of the Moscow Patriarchate, performing tasks of the NKGB of the USSR." The occupied region? Apparently, we are just about the arrests of everyone who did not seem to be "loyal".

The Petrov Agent: “used by the NKGB Office for the development of the anti -Soviet underground of the Johannites and the hostile element from among the clergy and churchmen,” “illegal monastery in Lisichansk was opened and eliminated with the help of Petrov.”

"Agent" Petrov "is the bishop of Donetsk and Voroshilovgrad (Lugansk) Nikon ( Alexander Porfiryevich Petin , 1902–1956). Uponford, in 1933 he was sentenced to five years of hard labor (departed entirely). On May 21, 1944, he was delivered to the bishop, in July he arrived in the diocese and, judging by the fact that the Chekists were sent in October about his activities. In Moscow, a separate report managed to put many this report.

Nevertheless, two agents-skat agents from the inner circle looked after Petrov. Still - he was heated in the diocese of his teacher Nafanail Smerdynsky . In the August issue of the "Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate" for 1945, Smerdynsky prints his article, in which the patriarchate praises as "Returned Paradise": "The title" Holiness "is inalienable from the Patriarch, as the earthly form of the Church, as the earthly image of Christ, the intermediary, the guide ... of the gracious merits ... from ... Jesus Christ, whose san wears the patriarch" (P. 55).

Since 1948, Petitin headed the Odessa diocese, and then he died of leukemia, earning praise from the local authorized ROC: "I can’t recall the case that he deviates or tried to prove the impossibility of certain recommendations."

“Pavlovsky” agent: “A characteristic feature of Pavlovsky’s work is the presentation of valuable verified intelligence materials, on the basis of which the NKGB department was successfully eliminated by the Supreme High Schools and the Ball of Pavlovsky. Priest Platon Markovich, who conducted active anti -Soviet activities during the occupation.”

"The seventh and last agent in the list is Pavlovsky. This is a" diamond "in the" episcopal crown "of the Chekists, Bishop Anthony Krothevich (1889–1973). The priest’s son was ordained before the revolution, he became an crumpeter, moved to Moscow and was the rector of the Sofia Church, which was opposite the Kremlin. In 1937 he was sentenced to 5 years camps, liberated in 1942.

According to his denunciations, two groups of Orthodox were planted at once. Krotevich headed several dioceses in Russia, in 1961 he replaced the Solid agent in Minsk, Borisevich, completing the destruction of the seminary here. As a bishop in Ivanovo, he even burned the diocesan library and archive, and gave the city authorities the house of diocesan administration.

The historian A. Sukhorukov noted that "the activities of Metropolitan Anthony (Krotevich) in the 1950-1960s brought many troubles of the church" and put forward an witty assumption: "Metropolitan Anthony's renewal past explains a lot." Only here is the bad luck: almost all the hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate had an update past. ”

According to the priest Yakov Krotov, the reports of the Chekists show: almost all the hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate were agents of Lubyanka. However, not everyone was equally zealous. Some, as can be seen from the published document, even had a "tendency to evade tasks." In 1946, the main concern of Ukrainian Chekists was the liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church. The bishops were at that time, first of all, agents of the Kremlin’s foreign policy. Bishop of Mukachevsky Nestor Sidoruk (1904–1951) in August 1946 went to Hungary in order to take Moscow of the local Orthodox. And what? The biography of the Sidoruk as two drops of water is similar to the biographies of other agents - apparently, the Chekists followed the strict instructions: from Poltava, 4 years of hard labor, after the conquest of Poltava becomes a priest, and in October 1945 - a bishop, participates in the Lviv Cathedral. He died by Bishop of Kursk.

All the beginning of 1946, Metropolitan Nikolai Yarushevich (the nickname is still unknown) convinced the Parisian Orthodox to return to the Moscow Patriarchate - convinced Metropolitan Evlii Georgievsky, but he died in August, which tore off the special operation. Писатель и философ Иван Ильин писал тогда: "Наивная беспомощность иногда выражается в своеобразном "дальтонизме": человек вдруг (или постепенно) слепнет для одного "цвета", для определенного сектора жизни. Один уверовал, что успех Красной армии составляет честь и славу России... Другой уверовал, что сан Всероссийского Патриарха делает человека "мудрым", "гениальным", "святым", "священномучеником"... И вот он уже шепчется с чекистами в рясах, прислуживает в храме перебежавшему епископу и мечтает подмять под советскую церковь все восточные патриаршества (клерикальный империализм советской церкви). … Одежда не гарантирует ничего. Разве иерочекисты, прилетевшие в Париж и соблазнившие митрополита Евлогия и митрополита Серафима (Лукьянова), были не в рясах? Разве шулер не выдает себя слишком безукоризненным фраком и белоснежной рубашкой с бриллиантовыми запонками?"