A collective portrait of a provincial clergyman during the “Khrushchev thaw” (based on materials from the Smolensk region)

In the post-war period, the Russian Orthodox Church naturally experienced significant difficulties in staffing parishes with cadres corresponding to the high rank of clergy. A similar problem was especially acute in the dioceses that were in the zone of occupation by Nazi troops. The devastation, poverty and lack of prospects made such regions unattractive for future candidates for the priesthood, and the intra-church personnel “reserves” did not always correspond to the future high ministry. In this article, an attempt will be made to look at how the personnel issue in the Smolensk diocese was resolved. We will also analyze the biographies of the clergy who served in the Smolensk Region during the period under review. When solving the last problem, all available archival materials were involved (including personal files; departmental correspondence) in order to make a portrait of a clergyman as broadly and representatively as possible. To illustrate, the author refers to the biographies of a number of clerics of the Smolensk Diocese. A detailed page-by-page analysis of the materials of personal files in the format of this study is impossible. In this regard, we mainly analyze the personal materials of those who held key positions in the diocesan administration system during the period under study and had a decisive corporate influence on the state, supported practices of ministry and administration that developed in the diocese: the secretary of the diocese, rectors and clergy of the cathedral.