Female Pilgrimage to the Middle East during Global Transformation, or How Lost Female Pilgrims in the Holy Land Fell in the Sphere of Soviet Interests

Abstract

The research focuses on establishing and personifying the rather shady and marginal group of “Russian female pilgrims” that decided to stay in the Holy Land in 1910—1920’s and caught the attention of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the formation of the state of Israel. In our research, we are introducing previously unpublished documents that give us the opportunity to examine this marginal group of elderly, religious women, who unexpectedly became acting figures in the Soviet-Israeli diplomatic relations and the Soviet struggle for Russian property in Palestine. The interest of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs in attaining property that previously belonged to institutions and representatives of the Russian Empire in Palestine naturally sparked the USSR’s keen interest in Russian nuns and female pilgrims in the region. The condition under which these women were granted Soviet citizenship was the recognition of Patriarch Alexius I of Moscow, which in itself is an expression of the new role, played by the Russian Orthodox Church under Stalinist leadership in the international (namely — Middle Eastern) arena. In this research paper we will demonstrate the mechanism of discussion and decision-making within the Soviet institutions, which pertained to the granting of a special kind of citizenship, one that officially forbade the entrance to the USSR. Among the documents published is the list of the female pilgrims, who lived in the Holy Land in 1952 and who were willing to receive Soviet citizenship.