Ministry of bishop Jerome (Zakharov) in Udmurtia (1948-1952)

This article presents information about the archpastoral activities of Bishop Jerome (Ieronim) (Zakharov) in the Izhevsk and Udmurt diocese. At the end of the 1940s, there was a significant deterioration in church-state relations in the USSR. A relatively favorable period for the Church was again replaced by years of oppression of the religious worldview. The service of the hierarch in Udmurtia was fraught with numerous difficulties. Orthodox believers of the Udmurt diocese regularly asked to open inactive churches and improve church life. In the post-war period, Soviet people visited churches, especially on parental Saturdays, in order to commemorate their relatives who died during the Great Patriotic War. However, the Soviet authorities took anti-religious positions and tried to prevent the strengthening of the positions of the Russian Orthodox Church in public life. The consequence of the anti-religious policy of the Soviet government was superstition, which spread among the believers of Udmurtia due to the impossibility of the Church to engage in educational activities. Bishop Jerome interceded with the commissioner to open churches, fought against the vices of the clergy of the diocese, followed anti-religious publications in the Soviet press. At the same time, the archpastor strove not to irritate the local representatives of the Soviet government and strictly observe the law. In an effort to show his loyalty to the Soviet authorities and following the example of Patriarch Alexy I, Vladyka Jerome supported the peacekeeping movement of the USSR. However, the obedience of the archpastor to the orders of the Soviet authorities was caused not by his convictions, but by following the instructions of the church authorities. This article is written on the basis of unpublished archival materials that are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Information from the State Archives of the Russian Federation helped to reveal the peculiarities of church life and anti-religious activities of the Soviet authorities in the Izhevsk and Udmurt diocese in the late 1940s and early 1950s.