Protestant Churches on the Agenda of the Department for External Church Relations in the 1960s — Early 1970s

This article aims to popularize a topic that remains largely unknown not only to the general readers but also to church historians and practicing specialists: the relations between the Moscow Patriarchate and Protestant churches during the chairmanship of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) in the Department for External Church Relations. Drawing on church and state archives, including the Department for External Church Relations Archive, which remains largely inaccessible to external researchers, the article provides a detailed description of the chronology and content of contacts between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Reformed Church of France, the ecumenically oriented “Union of Prayer,” the Protestant Federation of France, the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands, Hungary, and Cuba, the Methodist Church of the USA, and the Church of the Brethren in the USA. The author suggests that the scope of these contacts was determined by the interests of Soviet foreign policy. At the same time, the author argues that the political dimension was not the primary factor in Orthodox- Protestant relations. These interactions were mutually beneficial: Protestant church representatives gained insight into church life in Soviet society and became acquainted with the spiritual traditions of Russian Orthodoxy, while the Russian Orthodox Church, under the pressure of state atheistic policies, was able to strengthen its authority within the Western Christian community, particularly among American Protestants. The close ties between the Moscow Patriarchate and Protestant churches in the USA also compelled Soviet authorities to consider the significance of the church factor in shaping Soviet- American relations.