“Living-church” schism and the activities of the Oryol renovationist archpriest Nikolai Polikarpov in 1922-1923

The article investigates the history of the emergence of the Renovationist Schism in the Oryol diocese and the activities of the Oryol Renovationist Archpriest Nikolai Polikarpov who turned out to be the only representative of the white clergy of the province as part of the schismatic Higher Church Administration in 1922. One of the tasks of Protopriest Nikolai Polikarpov was to try to involve authoritative church figures of the city of Orel - vicar of Oryol Daniil (Troitsky) Bishop of Bolkhovsky and Archpriest Arkady Obolensky of the Church of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God of the city of Orel - in renovationism in the interests of the Bolshevik authorities. The events of 1922-1923 are examined, and important some aspects of the pre-revolutionary biography of Archpriest Nikolai Polikarpov are identified: it is quite possible he fulfilled certain tasks of representatives of the political power even in autocratic times. Based on the materials studied, the conclusion is made that one of the factors of the genesis of the Renovationist schism was the emergence of such churchmen and clergy within the system of church-state relations of the pre-revolutionary period, who were ready to act as a tool of solving political tasks of the authorities in power. The investigation of the events of the split in the city of Orel made it possible to find out some other details of the history of this period whose significance turned out to be extremely relevant 100 years later.