05/08/2025
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the propaganda of the “Russian world,” and the overall system of state-church relations in Russia have sparked a growing interest in the history of Russian Orthodoxy, particularly in the 20th century. A now widespread phrase, which has practically become a meme, claims that the modern Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) was founded by Stalin in 1943.
It is evident, however, that the process of the state absorption of the Moscow Church began much earlier, when, in the mid-15th century, it unilaterally separated from the Kyiv Metropolis and, with the help of tsarist authorities — through violence and bribery — secured patriarchal status. Its representatives developed the idea of the “Third Rome,” which has become a foundational myth of the “Russian world.” Stalin’s actions in September 1943, however, launched a new era. From the highest levels of leadership down to parish structures, the ROC-MP fell under the control of the USSR’s security services, often becoming their active agents.
The issue of the Russian Orthodox Church’s collaboration with the KGB drew significant attention in the final years of the Soviet Union, and interest in it has only grown since, especially in light of efforts by the Moscow Patriarchate’s senior clergy to preserve that alliance. In post-Soviet Russia, as calls to revive the USSR re-emerged, this collaboration began to be reinterpreted — not as a shameful legacy, but even as something "necessary," particularly amid the resurgence of Stalin’s cult of personality. At the same time, access to archival evidence was increasingly restricted, and much of it was deliberately destroyed, especially given that many of the individuals featured in those files are still active as agents today. In Ukraine, after a burst of archival research during President Viktor Yushchenko’s term, the process was again obstructed under the pro-Russian Yanukovych regime. Still, the groundwork laid during that earlier period was not lost — over the past decade, research has resumed and even intensified.
One of the most prominent historians specializing in NKVD–KGB archives related to church affairs is Roman Skakun, deputy director of the Institute of Church History at the Ukrainian Catholic University. Now in his third year of military service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Skakun has just released a new book focused on Soviet secret police infiltration within the Kyiv Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Roman Skakun. The NKVD–MGB–KGB Agent Network in the Orthodox Episcopate of Ukraine (1939–1964): Formation, Functions, and Behavioral Models. Lviv: Ukrainian Catholic University Press, 2025 – 360 pages.
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the propaganda of the “Russian world,” and the overall system of state-church relations in Russia have sparked a growing interest in the history of Russian Orthodoxy, particularly in the 20th century. A now widespread phrase, which has practically become a ...
