On the way to Jerusalem: bishop Cyril (Naumov) in Constantinople and Syria in 1858

The article deals with a little-studied page in the history of Russia’s contacts with the Orthodox East: the visit of Bishop Cyril (Naumov) to Constantinople and Syria in late 1858-early 1859. The surviving archival documents allow us to restore the details of the conversations of Bishop Cyril with the Greek higher clergy. Restoring Russia’s relations with the Orthodox Churches of the East and strengthening Russia’s authority in the Middle East was a paramount task after the Crimean War. The Greek bishops, for their part, were interested in contacts and expressed their readiness for dialogue. In the second half of the 1850s in the Balkans and the East, national-political conflicts were brewing between the Bulgarians and Arabs, on the one hand, and the Greek higher clergy, on the other; the task of Russian diplomacy and church representatives was to support national movements and at the same time act as peacemakers and mitigate contradictions. Solemn meetings rendered by Rev. Cyril in Constantinople and Damascus testify to the hopes that the Eastern clergy placed on political and ecclesiastical relations with Russia.