Sergius (Stragorodsky), Archbishop of Finland and Vyborg — features of pastoral service in political and sociocultural contexts

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the “Finnish period” of the pastoral service of Sergius (Stragorodsky), future Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. The period covers the years 1905–1917, during which there was an exacerbation of Russian-Finnish relations. In Finnish historiography, these years are referred to as another period of russification (1908–1917), while in Russian historiography, they are marked by attempts to Finnize and Lutheranize Russian Karelia. Formed in 1892 as the vicariate of the St. Petersburg diocese, the Vyborgand Finnish diocese of the Orthodox Russian Church united the parishes of the Grand Duchy of Finland, to which the Vyborg province (Old Finland) belonged, annexed to the Grand Duchy by Alexander I in 1811. In 1913, the Serdobolsk vicariate was established in the diocese for Karelian parishes. Archbishop Sergius was tasked with countering “pan-Finnish propaganda” in Karelia and defending the interests of the Russian Church in the Grand Duchy, the vast majority of whose population adhered to Lutheranism. The Karelians inhabited the eastern part of the Grand Duchy of Finland, Olonets and Belomorsk Karelia. Through joint efforts of church and provincial authorities in these regions, the process of Lutheranization of Karelians directed by Finnish nationalists was stopped. However, Archbishop Sergius policy in the Grand Duchy caused rejection from local elites and church figures. Relations with Russian politicians were also complicated for the Archbishop of Finland. This was largely due to the exacerbation of Finnish and Karelian issues. The article analyzes the political and socio-cultural contexts of the pastoral service of Archbishop Sergius, emphasizes important facts of his biography that help understand the logic of his decisions, presents preliminary conclusions based on a review of the modern historiography of the issue, which has not received sufficient attention from Russian researchers to date.