HISTORY OF THE CATACOMB CHURCH MOVEMENT / THE ORTHODOX
CHURCH IN RESISTANCE MOVEMENT


Metropolitan Job of Moscow become the first Patriarch of Russia in 1589.  Following the death of Patriarch
Adrian in 1700, the Church remained  without a Patriarch for more than two hundred years.  At the
insistence of Peter I, a collective administration, known as the Holy and Governing Synod, was established
in 1721.  This form of governance lasted until 1917 at which time the All-Russian Council restored the
patriarchal office and elected Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow as Patriarch.

Orthodoxy in Russia in the Early Twentieth Century

The joy of the election of Patriarch Tikhon would be short lived, as Russia entered a very difficult period in
its history.  The Bolsheviks, who had come into power in 1917, saw the Russian Orthodox Church as an
enemy to be destroyed as resolutely as the tsarist institution.  This period saw the repression of the church
as well as the imprisonment of many of its bishops, priests, monastics and laypeople.  Patriarch Tikhon was
himself imprisoned a little more than a year.  Upon his release he found a Church embattled by division and
an ever-increasing persecution by the government.  He continued to be a source of unification among the
people and fought vigorously to uphold the faith and traditions of the Church, but the strain of these years
weighed heavily upon him.  His death in 1925 dealt a severe blow to Russian Orthodoxy and the stability of
the Church.

Orthodoxy in the Post-Tikhon era


Following the death of Patriarch Tikhon unrest settled over the Russian Orthodox Church.  The designated
successors of Patriarch Tikhon were arrested by the civil authorities and Metropolitan Sergiy was named
"locum tenens" of the Patriarchate.  In 1927 Metropolitan Sergiy, in a formal declaration to all members of
the Church, called for loyalty toward the Soviet government.  This event sparked division among the
hierarchy, clergy and laity. When he demanded the church in the United States also affirm loyalty to the
Soviet government, the church in the U.S.A. also became divided Those who opposed Metropolitan Sergiy
were not simply opposed to his political concessions, which they felt were too extreme, but were also at
variance with him on a number of canonical and theological issues.  His alliance with the authorities
allowed him to turn over to the civil authorities all hierarchs and clergy who were at odds with him on
political issues as well as purely church-related issues.  

While the True Orthodox Church Movement was never a single organization, many of its followers were
labeled "Josephites", after Metropolitan Joseph of Leningrad, the leader of its largest branch.


A considerable part of the Church in Russia and North America stood in opposition to Metropolitan Sergiy
and took the stand of the True Orthodox Church Movement. The True Orthodox Movement became known as
the Church in Resistance Movement or the Catacomb Church Movement.



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