Metropolitan Hilarion visits State Archive of the Russian Federation

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On 20 December 2010, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations and Rector of the Ss Cyril and Methodius Postgraduate and Doctoral School of the Russian Orthodox Church visited the State Archive of the Russian Federation and met with its director S. Mironenko. They were joined in the meeting by a student of the Postgraduate and Doctorate School, hegumen Mitrofan (Shkurin), secretary of the same School's academic board A. Mramornov, and deputy directors of the State Archive Ye. Lunacharsky and L. Rogozina.

Director Mironenko told the guests the story of the State Archive opened in 1920 and reconstituted by Boris Yeltsin's decree in April 1992. In December 2010, there took place an exchange of microfilm copies of some archive materials between the Holy Trinity theological seminary in Jordanville and the State Archive of the Russian Federation. Thus, the researches in Russia and abroad have gained access to the rare archive materials.

In addition to keeping the archive materials, the Archives' leadership makes documents belonging to the national heritage accessible to the researches. Hundreds of thousands documents have been declassified during the last eighteen years, and reference system containing over a half of the archive inventories has been established.

Metropolitan Hilarion was shown some unique documents, for instance, a lot by which Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow was elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia at the All-Russian Local Council in 1917. Metropolitan Hilarion also saw the diaries of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Emperor Nicholas II, as well as the Act of Abdication of the last Russian emperor.

In conclusion of the meeting, the DECR chairman presented Mt. Mironenko with an icon of the Most Holy Mother of God and his book "Disputes over the Name of God. Archive documents of 1912-38" compiled by Metropolitan (then bishop) Hilarion in 2007. The book includes over 300 documents from the Russian State Historical Archive, the State Archive of the Stavropol region, and the archive of the Department for External Church Relations.

Mr. Mironenko gave Metropolitan Hilarion some books published for the 90^th anniversary of the Archive, and a book in two volumes, "Letters of Patriarch Alexy I to the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Council of People's Commissars and the Council of Ministers of the USSR."

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Metropolitan Hilarion visits State Archive of the Russian Federation

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons