Documents of the Perm Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Speculation, and Sabotage on the Preliminary Criminal Investigation of Clergymen Assassination in 1918

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Sukhanov A.V.,

Novovolkovskoye, Russian Federation

Documents of the Perm Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Speculation, and Sabotage on the Preliminary Criminal Investigation of Clergymen Assassination in 1918

Abstract

The days of the Civil War saw a policy of terror against the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church in the territories controlled by the Russian Communist party (Bolsheviks). One of manifestations of this policy was execution of the clergy on the territory of the Perm province. When Perm was seized by the armies of the Russian State in the end of 1918, there were restored judicial and investigative organs according to the legislation of the Russian government of A.V. Kolchak. One of the investigations pending before the examining magistrate of the Perm district court for major cases was a case “Of the clergymen assassination by Perm Extraordinary Commission for combating counter-revolution, speculation and sabotage”, filed on January 16, 1919. A number of publications on it notwithstanding, the issue remains mostly unstudied. The case materials are stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation. The article strives to broaden of the documentary base for researching the history of the Red Terror against clergy. The article introduces into scientific use the Protocol of interrogation of Michael Salturin, a clergyman of the Perm diocese, treasurer and steward of the Episcopal rectory. The published materials provide data on circumstances of the arrest of the Archbishop of Perm and Kungur Andronicus (Nikolsky) and Bishop of Solikamsk Theophanes (Ilmensky), and on execution of the Archbishop Basil (Bogoyavlensky), rector of the Perm Theological Seminary, Archimandrite Matthias (Pomerantsev) and missionary Alexei V. Zverev, as well as on church-state relations during the Civil War. Information drawn from the interrogation protocol allows to broaden the frameworks of the scholarship and to obtain information on issues that are specific to some dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the interactions between the Cheka (Emergency Commission) bodies and diocesan authorities, the Bolshevik repressive policies procedures, and the life of the clergy under the Soviet authorities.

Keywords

Source, archive, Russian Orthodox Church, Red Terror, Russian Civil War, Perm district court.

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References

1. Balmasov S.S. Krasnyj terror na vostoke Rossii v 1918–1922 gg. [Red Terror in the East of Russia in 1918–1922] M.: Posev, 2006.

2. Litvin A.L. Krasnyj i belyj terror 1918—1922 [Red and White Terror: 1918–1922] M.: Jeksmo, 2004.

3. Nechaev M.G. Cerkov' na Urale v period velikih potrjasenij: 1917–1922 [The Church in the Urals in a Period of Great Upheaval: 1917–1922] Perm': Izdatel'stvo PGPU: Izdatel'stvo UrGU, 2004.

About author

Sukhanov Alexander Vasilievich, postgraduate student of Sts Cyril and Methodius’ Church Post–Graduate and Doctoral School, Novovolkovskoye, Russian Federation, 8–963–962–29–01, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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