The Publishing House of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's University for the Humanities has published a new textbook by Professor A.A. Kostryukov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Ph.D., "The History of the Russian Church Abroad (1920-2007)."
Russian Russian Orthodox Church A.A. Kostryukov is a specialist in the field of the history of the Russian Church Diaspora and modern church history, the author of four scientific monographs and more than a hundred articles on the history of the Russian Church Abroad. The author also teaches a course on the history of ecclesiastical emigration at the graduate school of the PSU. Although studies and reviews of the history of ROCOR have been published, the corresponding textbook for the Master's degree has only now appeared.
The persecutions that struck Orthodoxy after 1917 led to serious upheavals, among which were church divisions. The Russian Church Abroad has become one of these divisions, but it has never lost its internal unity with the Church in the Fatherland. One of the most famous bishops of the Russian diaspora, St. John (Maximovich) wrote: "The Russian Church Abroad is not spiritually separated from the suffering mother. She prays for her, preserves her spiritual and material riches, and in due time will unite with her when the reasons that separated them disappear." The archpastor turned out to be right: reconciliation and unification took place in 2007.
For 80 years of its independent existence, the Russian Church Abroad has carried a special mission. She remained the voice of truth, testified about the persecution, and openly performed the funeral service of the Royal family in absentia. It was she who glorified the new martyrs, explained the causes of the tragedy of Russia. The best representatives of the Russian Church Abroad, including those canonized, had no doubt about the fall of the communist regime and pointed out the ways of Russia's development after its liberation.
It has long been necessary to publish the history of the Russian Church Abroad in the form of a separate manual, where the events are presented simply and impartially. The author of the book did not hide controversial and sometimes erroneous decisions that can be a lesson to future generations.
The textbook is based on the chronological principle. The textbook is divided into five chapters, each of which is related to the life and ministry of one of the first hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad — Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Metropolitan Anastasia (Gribanovsky), Metropolitan Filaret (Voznesensky), Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov) and Metropolitan Laurus (Shkurla). Russian Russian Orthodox Church Abroad against Anti-Christian Teachings, "The Russian Church Abroad and the Renovationist Schism," "Theology of the Russian Church Abroad," "Parishes of the Western Rite," however, in parallel with this, some sections were built on a thematic principle, for example, "The Russian Church Abroad against Anti-Christian Teachings."
The book is based on archival materials, periodicals of Russian emigration, as well as previously conducted research by Russian and foreign historians.
The book will be of interest to students, as well as to anyone interested in the history of the Church in the twentieth century.