Obnovlentsy

Categories / Religion. Church/Religious Faiths
OBNOVLENTSY (RENOVATIONISTS), members of a reformatory movement in the Russian Orthodox church. In 1905, a "circle of 32 priests" was formed in St. Petersburg to initiate church reforms. The main reason for the rise of the movement was a crisis within the church, which had been gradually growing since the early 18th century. They also wanted to adapt the church to the realities of the 20th century. Following the February Revolution of 1917 the All-Russian Union of Democratic Orthodox Clergy and Laity was established in Petrograd; it brought into the focus the ideas of Obnovlentsy. The movement was fully shaped by May 1922 after Patriarch Tikhon was arrested and forced to leave his position. Assisted by the Soviet government, Obnovlentsy formed the Supreme Ecclesiastical Administration and seized power over the Russian Orthodox Church managing church affairs for over a year. This coup was organized by State Political Administration and the leaders of Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), L. D. Trotsky in particular played an influential role. The Obnovlentsy movement was mainly headed by Petrograd priests, such as A. Vvedensky, V. Krasnitsky, A. Boyarsky, E. Belkov and others. Prior to his arrest on 28 May 1922, Metropolitan of Petrograd Veniamin excommunicated the Obnovlentsy as schismatics. Obnovlentsy advocated simplification of divine services, changing services to Russian instead of Old Church Slavonic, moving to the New Style calendar, abolishing celibacy for the episcopate, allowing clergymen to remarry, closure of monasteries and nunneries, more contemporary religious morals etc. In the autumn of 1922, Obnovlentsy split into several groups. Many of the faithful in Petrograd repudiated the Obnovlentsy and established the Petrograd Autocephaly. After this was dispersed by State Political Administration in February 1923, Obnovlentsy seized about 120 of the 130 city churches. In April - May 1923, Obnovlentsy held their own All-Russian Local Council in Moscow, where they defrocked Patriarch Tikhon. However, after the patriarch was released on 27 June 1923, the influence of the Obnovlentsy sharply diminished. In the late 1920s, Renovationists controlled only about 20 Leningrad churches, with no more than 10,000 followers. The parishes of the Obnovlentsy Eparchy were united in Deaneries and subordinated to Leningrad Eparchial administration, which was successively headed by Bishop Nikolay (Sobolev), 26 June 1922 - April of 1923; Metropolitan Artemy (Ilyinsky), April - October of 1923; Metropolitan Veniamin (Muratovsky), 8 January 1924 - 19 May, 1927; Metropolitan Serafim (Ruzhentsev), June of 1927 - 5 September 1934; Metropolitan Nikolay (Platonov), 5 September 1934 - 4 April 1938; Archpresbyter Alexy Abakumov, April of 1938 - 19 December 1941; and Bishop Sergy (Rumyantsev), 18 April 1943 - 24 July 1944. The eparchial administration of the Obnovlentsy was located in Alexander Nevsky Lavra from 1922 to 1926; in 1927-38 the administration moved to 11 Sixth Line of Vasilievsky Island; in 1938-44, it was located in Holy Transfiguration Cathedral. In 1938, the Obnovlentsy Metropolitan of Leningrad Nikolay (Platonov) apostatized and became a layman. In 1942-44, the last three Leningrad Obnovlentsy churches passed under the control of the Moscow patriarchy. The movement of Obnovlentsy ceased to exist in 1946 after the death of its head Metropolitan Alexander Vvedensky.

References: Титлинов Б. В. Новая церковь. Пг.; М., 1923; Шишкин А. А. Сущность и критическая оценка "обновленческого" раскола русской православной церкви. Казань, 1970; Шкаровский М. В. Обновленческое движение в Русской Православной Церкви ХХ века. СПб., 1999.

M. V. Shkarovsky. Alexy (Abakumov Alexy Grigorievich)
Artemy (Alexander Matveevich Ilyinsky ), Archbishop
Belkov Evgeny Khristoforovich
Boyarsky Alexander Ivanovich, Metropolitan
Krasnitsky Vladimir Dmitrievich
Nikolay (Platonov Nikolay Fedorovich), Archbishop
Nikolay (Sobolev Nikolay Vasilievich), Archbishop
Serafim (Sergey Semenovich Ruzhentsev), Metropolitan
Sergy (Sergey Vladimirovich Rumyantsev), Bishop
Tikhon (Vasily Ivanovich Belavin), Patriarch
Trotsky (real name Bronstein) Lev Davidovich
Veniamin (Muratovsky Vasily Antonovich ) , Archbishop
Vvedensky Alexander Ivanovich
6th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 11
Титлинов Б. В. Новая церковь. Пг.; М., 1923
Шишкин А. А. Сущность и критическая оценка "обновленческого" раскола русской православной церкви. Казань, 1970
Шкаровский М. В. Обновленческое движение в Русской Православной Церкви ХХ века. СПб., 1999 Alexander Nevsky Lavra
Holy Transfiguration Cathedral