“FINNISH ISSUE” IN CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PATRIARCH ALEXIS I AND THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE AFFAIRS OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH G. G. KARPOV
The article addresses the “Finnish issue” in the correspondence between Alexis I (Simansky), Patriarch of Moscow, and Georgiy Grigoryevich Karpov, the Chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church established in 1943. The correspondence covers the period between 1945 and 1953. The entire correspondence (1945-1970) was published in the two-volume edition of the Russian Political Encyclopedia Publishing House in 2009. The “Finnish issue” included the discussion of measures and strategies for restoring canonical relations between the Russian and Finnish Orthodox Churches. In 1921, Moscow Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin) granted autonomy to the Finnish Orthodox Church, and in 1923 it came under the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarch, despite the protest of Patriarch Tikhon. After that, relations between the Russian and Finnish Orthodox Churches were interrupted. The difficult situation of the Church in Soviet Russia and the Second World War did not allow both sides to discuss this issue. During the first post-war years, the Soviet government was interested in involving the Russian Orthodox Church in promoting its international policy. The review of the correspondence shows the dynamics of the discussion between Patriarch Alexis and G. G. Karpov on the problem of restoring the canonical communion between the Russian and Finnish Orthodox Churches, reveals some new issues arising from it, and helps to understand why the Finnish Orthodox Church was not granted autocephaly at that time.