Transcript Document

Author: 11form
Teacher: Irina Nikishina
Pleskovo Boarding School, 2010
On June 22, 1941, the first day of
the war, which coincided with the
celebration of the day of All Saints,
in the land of Russia, Metropolitan
Sergius made a message to the
pastors of Christ Orthodox
Church, urging the faithful to
defend the Fatherland from “the
wretched offspring enemies of
Orthodox Christianity”.
Since November 1942 Metropolitan
Sergius, together with
Metropolitan Nicholas had
repeatedly addressed messages to
the Orthodox Romania,
Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia,
Greece, to the Christians of other
countries occupied by Germany
with a call to join the anti-fascist
coalition.
During the Battle for Moscow
Metropolitan Nicholas often
went to the front, performing
worships in Moscow and
suburban churches, preached
sermons, urging Moscovites
not to panic and keep the
capital.
A true example of courage was
the behavior of the Orthodox
clergy and ordinary people
during the 900-day Siege of
Leningrad, also known as The
Leningrad Blockade (Sep 8. 1941
- Jan. 18. 1944). Being in the
besieged city, Metropolitan of
Leningrad Alexis (Simansky;
later Patriarch of
Moscow and All Russia) served the
liturgy in St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral
and other churches, performed the
funeral of victims of the blockade, treated
with patriotic appeals to the faithful. His
example was followed by the Leningrad
clerics, who took pastoral care of the
faithful, committed acts of worship,
funeral of the victims and provided
possible help with medicines and firewood
from the parish stocks.
During the first year of the
war Orthodox churches in
Moscow handed in to the
Defense Fund over 3 million
rub. A big patriotic work
was done by the Orthodox
monasteries, where
hospitals and orphanages
were often arranged.
Taking care of the children of soldiers
who were fighting on the fronts, the
Orthodox Church announced the
collection of money among all
working cathedrals .The Moscow
Patriarchate was the first to donate 1
million rubles. All in all, during the
five years of the war, the Moscow
Patriarchate, the clergy and the
faithful were gathered more than 300
million rubles.
On 30 December 1942
Metropolitan Sergius
urged the faithful to
donate funds for the
making a tank column
named after the St.
Dimitry of Don.
At the Chelyabinsk tank plant 40 tanks were made, which Metropolitan
Nicholas gave to the Red Army from the Moscow Patriarchate on March 7,
1944.
The Dimitri Donskoy column of tanks participated in the liberation of
Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Poland and came to Berlin.
During the war the facts of the
patriotic deeds of the clergy and
believers in the occupied
territories became known.
Orthodox clergy and laity helped
partizan units and underground
groups. Hundreds of clerics were
arrested and imprisoned, were
shot or burnt alive for their
patriotic activities.
Since the autumn of 1943 clergy and
active believers had been awarded state
orders and medals. The first big award
ceremony was held in Leningrad, when
a group of clergy was awarded a medal
"For the Defense of Leningrad.
In 1944, the clergy of the Moscow and
Tula dioceses were awarded a medal
"For the Defense of Moscow".
The command officer of the 5th partisans' brigade the hero of the Soviet Union K.D. Kamritskiy is
awarding
the priest
F.A.of
Puzanov
the medal
"The Partisan
of theNikolas
SecondisWorld
War"the hierarchs
The
executive
secretary
the Moscow
Patriarchia
metripolitan
awarding
of the Church the medals "For the Defense of Moscow". 1944
Stalin praised the patriotic activity of the Russian Orthodox Church during the war.
The presence of Patriarch Alexy on the platform of the mausoleum of Lenin during
the Victory Parade in Red Square was a striking demonstration of this fact. It was on
the 24 June, 1945
Later the Patriarch was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
Information sources:
www.great-victory1945.ru
www.pravmir.com
www.sedmitza.ru
Dedicated to
The Blessed Memory of Those Millions
Of Valiant Men, Women, Children
and Old People
Who Gave Their Lives in the Sacred Fighting
For The Freedom and Independence
of Our Motherland
During the Great Patriotic War
in 1941 - 1945