Side Activities of Roca ?
Priests 'loved by all' were Soviet spies
The Ottawa Citizen
October 06, 1999, FINAL
SECTION: News; A1 / Front
HEADLINE: Priests 'loved by all' were Soviet spies
BYLINE: Jim Bronskill
BODY:
Two missionary priests who served in Canadian parishes spied for the KGB in the early 1970s, says a new book on the Soviet intelligence agency.
The Russian Orthodox clerics used their religious cover to conduct secret research in Alberta and Saskatchewan for the KGB's foreign intelligence directorate, reveals historian Christopher Andrew in
The Sword and the
Shield.
The book claims Victor Petluchenko, known to the KGB as ''Patriot,'' and Ivan Borcha, code-named ''Fyodor,'' studied parish registers, gathering valuable biographical material to help future spies establish convincing identities.
Mr. Andrew's book is based on files compiled by Col. Vasili Mitrokhin, a former KGB archivist who defected in 1992. The book contains many revelations about the Soviet Union's Cold War spy operations.
Records uncovered by the Citizen show Mr. Petluchenko and ''John'' Borcha (the name John is the English-language counterpart of the Russian Ivan) landed in Edmonton with their families in late June 1970.
Mr. Petluchenko was assigned to St. Mary's Russian Orthodox Church near Nisku, Alta., south of Edmonton, where he served until mid-1975, then returned overseas, according to Echoes of Faith, a history of the parish. Mr. Borcha occasionally undertook duties at St. Mary's.
Mr. Petluchenko also served at parishes in a number of other Alberta towns, including Calmar, Spirit River and Thorsby.
''Father Victor started Saturday school with the children, held Christmas concerts at the church hall and went carolling with the young people at Christmastime,'' says the St. Mary's parish history. ''He was loved by all.''
According to The Sword and the Shield, Mr. Petluchenko served two masters -- the church and the KGB's Directorate S.
Mr. Andrew's book says Mr. Petluchenko collected information in Alberta for use in devising the well- documented legends, or background stories, of KGB illegals. Mr. Borcha studied registers in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The Orthodox Church's modern- era co-operation with Soviet intelligence began in the early 1940s when the Moscow Patriarchate, the church's administrative centre, was re-established following decades of religious persecution, says Mr. Andrew, a history professor at Britain's Cambridge University.
The KGB used agents among Russian Orthodox clergy in the West to not only carry out research, but to spy on emigre communities and to identify possible intelligence recruits. The estimated 15 to 20 per cent of Orthodox priests who refused to assist the KGB were denied advancement within the church.
However, it would be ''simplistic and unjust'' to see all the KGB agents and co-optees in the Orthodox Church simply as cynical careerists with no real religious faith -- though that may have been true of a minority, writes Mr. Andrew.
''Most Russian Orthodox priests probably believed they had no option but to accept some of the demands of state security.''
In addition, many may have been influenced by the long tradition of Orthodox spirituality, dating to czarist days, that emphasized submission to both God and state rule.
Russian Orthodox delegates to the World Council of Churches were hand-picked by the KGB, an indication as to why these representatives often publicly disputed reports of the persecution of their church by the Soviets.
Mr. Andrew says KGB agents on the council at its 1983 meeting in Vancouver probably were responsible for ensuring no embarrassing official denunciations of the Soviet Union emerged from the session.
The book also reveals a Canadian link to KGB operations in Poland designed to undermine Pope John Paul II, former archbishop of Krakow and a staunch anti-Communist.
Oleg Petrovich Buryen, code-named ''Derevlyov,'' posed as the representative of a Canadian publishing firm. He claimed to be collecting material about Polish missionaries in the Far East, using the cover as a pretext for contacting several prominent church figures, says the book.
''If arrested by the police or SB (the Polish intelligence service), he was told to stick firmly to his cover story and insist that he was a Canadian citizen,'' it says.
GRAPHIC: P Black & White Photo: While Victor Petluchenko served his Alberta parishes, he also served the KGB by helping create bogus identities for its agents.; Black & White Photo: Rev. Ivan ''John'' Borcha is reported to have studied records in Alberta and Saskatchewan in the service of the KGB.
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