Russian Orthodox spiritual Mission in Korea in the 1930s — 1945

The Article is devoted to the history of the youngest and smallest of the foreign Russian Orthodox spiritual Missions — the Korean one. It reached its peak by 1917, but the withdrawal of aid from Russia after the October revolution led to an acute crisis. The mission was helped to survive by the active support of the head of the Japanese diocese, Archbishop Sergiy (Tikhomirov). The period of the 1930s — 1945 described in the article was a difficult and dramatic period in the history of the Korean mission. Surviving in the 1920s. due to a severe lack of funding and personnel for the clergy, the Mission gradually began to develop its activities again in the following decade. At the same time, in the early 1930s, the Mission’s leadership had a conflict with the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, who tried to subdue it to no avail. During the second world war, Despite obstacles from the Japanese authorities, the spiritual Mission in Korea continued its activities, remaining loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate. Only after the American occupation of South Korea — in 1949. the head of The mission, Archimandrite Polycarp (Priymak), was expelled from the country, and in 1955 the Orthodox Koreans came under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The article is based on Russian archival documents.