Cold War peacemaker discusses international relations with ROC representative.

On April 11, Archpriest Sergiy Zvonarev, from the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate hosted a meeting with Suzanne Massie, an American writer and public figure. Fr. Zvonarev spoke with Massie about the Church's activities in the field of international relations and rapprochement of peoples, which happened to be her field of expertise during the days of the Cold War, when she acted as an unofficial advisor to US President Ronald Reagan. 

With Reagan in the 1980s.

A prolific author, and educated at the Sorbonne, her work Land of the Firebird: The Beauty of Old Russia got the attention of Ronald Reagan and she soon became an informal messenger between him and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. She taught President Reagan the phrase "Doveryai, no proveryai", which translates as "Trust, but verify.” A phrase often heard during the last days of the Cold War. She provided priceless assistance to Reagan’s understanding of the Russian mentality that allowed for the peaceful end of the Cold War. 

She has devoted the majority of her working life to the reconciliation of the American and Russian peoples. In 2011, she converted to Orthodox Christianity from Lutheranism, and in 2021 asked and received from Russian President Vladimir Putin Russian citizenship, which he granted her by decree. She said she considered this “an honor.” In 2022, she was awarded the badge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation "For her contribution to international cooperation.”

It was due to the efforts of Massie and those of like mind with her, both on the American and Russian side, that allowed the Cold War to end with a whimper and not with a nuclear bang. One hopes that in today’s times of rising tensions between the two nuclear armed states, another like unto Massie will arise to stay the hand of Armageddon once more.