The formation of the directing offices of the American exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church: exarchal council (1947-1954)

The article examines the process of formation of the Exarchal Council, one of the main directing offices of the American Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The materials of the State Archive of the Russian Federation were used as the source base of the study. The documents identified and for the first time introduced into scientific circulation allowed to establish the motives and factors of the creation of the Exarchal Council, to find out the participation of the Soviet state in its creation, to reveal the specific features of decisionmaking on personnel issues, and also to trace the evolution of the functions of this collective body in the management system of the American Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The main factor that led to the formation of the Exarchal Council was a conflict which began in the first part of 1948 between the top officials of the American Exarchate, having a devastating effect on all spheres of activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States. The Moscow Patriarchate considered the hierarch’s official trip from the USSR to the USA to be the best option to improve the situation. At least four attempts to send the hierarch to the American Exarchate were made from 1948 to 1953. However, each time the US State Department refused entry visas. As an alternative way to solve the situation, the possibility of creating a special collegial body whose task would be the comprehensive management of the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States began to be considered since the end of 1951. In August 1952, Patriarch Alexy (Simansky) approved the first temporary composition of the Exarchal Council. However, the work of the authority turned out to be ineffective due to rather unsuccessful selection of the employees. The leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate had to do serious work from a distance to eliminate all the shortcomings. The problem was finally solved only in March 1954. At the 2nd Congress of the Clergy and Laity of the American Exarchate, a new Exarchal Council was elected, which was vested with the authority of the main directing office over the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA after the exarch.