On the problem of the missionary activity of the Siberian Renovationist Church in the first half of the 1920s

The article analyzes the missionary activity of the Siberian Renovationist church in the period from July 1922 to the end of 1925. The author considers exclusively the external mission of the Renovationist church structures addressed to representatives of non-Orthodox Christian denominations, non-Christian religions and atheists. The materials dealing with the issues related to the mission during the period of institutionalization of the Renovationist schism in Siberia are studied. It is concluded that the mission was not given priority during this period. The author also analyzes the resolutions of the II Local Council of 1923, which affect missionary problems. Considerable attention is paid to the issues of mission in the work of the II All-Siberian Congress of Clergy and Laity, held in Novonikolaevsk in May 1924, as well as the missionary activities of the Siberian Renovationist dioceses. The similarities and differences in the Siberian and All-Soviet Renovationist policies of 1924- 1925 are analyzed. It is concluded that at the diocesan level of active missionary activity in the first half of the 1920s, it was not implemented, since the Renovationist structures were focused on other issues, principally, on confrontation with the Patriarchal Church. The resolutions on the development of the mission adopted at the level of the Siberian church and the Renovationist Holy Synod were actually ignored in the dioceses.