Visit of patriarch Alexander III (Tahan) of Antioch and all the East to the USSR in 1954

Based on archival and non-archival materials, the article studies the circumstances of the visit to the Soviet Union by Patriarch Alexander III (Tahan) of Antioch and by the Church of Antioch delegation in 1954. Receiving substantial financial support from Moscow, Patriarch Alexander played a double game, discussing possible cooperation with Patriarch Athenagoras (Spirou) of Constantinople and accepting money from America. At the same time, the Soviet government had a special interest in the Antiochian First Hierarch, since through him, it was possible to influence other Eastern patriarchs to counteract the expansion of US and British influence. The impressions of the trip to the USSR convinced the Head of Antiochian Orthodoxy and his companions of the freedom the Russia Church had in Russia, and they intended to testify about it on returning home.