Ukrainian Orthodox Church
KGB revelations lead to Orthodox unfrocking
The Independent (London)
June 26, 1992, Friday
SECTION:NEWS PAGE; Page 10
HEADLINE: KGB revelations lead to Orthodox unfrocking
BYLINE: By TONY BARBER
BODY:
FOR THE hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the millions of faithful in Russia, the opening of the KGB's secret archives in Moscow is proving a traumatic experience. Piece by piece, a picture is emerging of an institution that was not merely subject to Communist Party influence but penetrated at all levels by the former Soviet security police.
The scandal has caused a conference of bishops to defrock one high-ranking clergyman,
Metropolitan Filaret of Kiev. A trained Orthodox monk, he has been named not only as a KGB ''agent in cassocks'' but as a man who fathered three children by his housekeeper, with whom he lived out of wedlock. One prominent Russian religious writer and former prisoner,
Zoya Krakhmalnikova, describes these disclosures, and allegations of misconduct levelled at other churchmen, as ''a national moral catastrophe''. They disturb the Church not least because it had hoped to use its post- Communist freedoms to restore its moral influence in Russian life. The revelations have occurred since last August's failed coup, which resulted in the abolition of the KGB's ''Directorate Z'' and the release of its materials to a Russian parliamentary commission. Directorate Z monitored opposition to Communist rule.
In January two priests who also serve as parliamentary deputies, Vyacheslav Polosin and Gleb Yakunin, released extracts from these files in three publications, Izvestia, Argumenty i Fakty and Megapolis Express. Their aim was to flush out three police agents who, in their guise as senior clergymen, were referred to in the KGB materials by the code names ''Antonov'', ''Adamant'' and ''Abbat''. A Russian journalist, Alexander Nezhny, solved the mystery by comparing reports in the Moscow patriarchate's bulletins with KGB accounts of the agents' activities. He named the trio as Metropolitans Filaret, Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, the second-ranking Orthodox leader, and Pitirim of Volokolamsk, the head of the
patriarchate's publications department.
It was, of course, never in doubt that church leaders had co-operated with the authorities. Russia has a centuries-old tradition of state influence over religious affairs, and in the Soviet era many clergymen and believers were subject to surveillance, intimidation and outright persecution. But what came as a shock was the extent of direct KGB control over the Orthodox Church.
Andrei Kurayev, an adviser to Patriarch Alexii, the head of the Church, says the KGB co-opted priests by the same methods as it recruited civilian informers. An agent would ask a clergyman to compile a list of suggestions for, say, improving, fire safety in a church building. The clergyman was given a code name and approached ever more frequently until, by an insidious process of contact and compromise, he became putty in the KGB's hands.
So far, Metropolitan Yuvenaly has kept quiet about the accusations against him, but Metropolitan Pitirim has denied that he committed ''illegal or immoral acts''. Unfortunately, the Moscow magazine Stolitsa has undermined his case by publishing examples of his violently worded attacks on dissenters in the Church.
Metropolitan Filaret says the real reason for his defrocking is an attempt by the Moscow church authorities to impose their power over the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which became autonomous two years ago. He has the support of the Ukrainian government and still occupies the metropolitan's residence and the main cathedral in Kiev, St Vladimir's.
Those compromised by the KGB archives - and they include not only Orthodox but Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and Buddhist officials - have won support from an unlikely quarter. A former member of Mikhail Gorbachev's Politburo, Alexander Yakovlev, has said the Church should be left alone to deal with its problems and has spoken out against ''a continuing witch-hunt''.
Others, inside the Church, fear that the revelations will weaken its defences against its resurgent religious competitors. These include Ukrainian Uniates, who owe allegiance to Rome and were suppressed by Stalin, and the
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, an emigre body. They are trying to reclaim churches and parishes in Ukraine and Russia.
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