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Recently, in an interview, the well-known émigré philosopher Nikita Struve said that he objected to the MP’s project to construct a Russian Orthodox complex in Paris. His opinion is that the MP is subservient to the state, and that émigré circles want to be independent “from the post-Soviet Russia”. According to Struve, most émigrés are in favour of the current separation continuing, “However, a small group of ten people wants union with the MP”. To learn the actual viewpoint of the Russian emigration towards contemporary Russia, the MP, and the return of Russian churches in France to the Mother Church, Yelena Mahler-Matyazova, in an exclusive Interfax-Religion interview, spoke to Prince Ivan Shakhovskoy, a member of one of the most ancient Russian princely houses, and a grand-nephew of St John Maksimovich of San Francisco. Ivan Dmitrievich was born in Paris, but he moved to Russia in adulthood.
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Yelena Mahler-Matyazova
Ivan Dmitrievich, could you please comment on the recent interview of Nikita Struve, where he was very critical towards contemporary Russia and the Russian Church.
Prince Ivan Shakhovskoy
What can I say? Of course, at one time, Nikita Alekseyevich did much to preserve Russian culture… look at his activities at the YMCA-Press and the Вестник РСХД (Vestnik RSKhD: Journal of the RSKhD (Russian Student Christian Movement)), or his book Христиане в СССР (Khristiane v SSSR: Christians in the USSR). However, when he talks and writes about contemporary Russia, he’s quite deficient… in principle, he’s always opposed the MP, but judging by his recent remarks, he’s lost his grip on good-sense and logic.
Yelena Mahler-Matyazova
Nikita Alekseyevich claims that the vast majority of Russian émigrés share his views; he says that only about a dozen people, who’re ignorant of church affairs, take an opposing stance. Does this correspond with reality?
Prince Ivan Shakhovskoy
Actually, that doesn’t fit the facts. Today, within any one of the Parisian parishes, more than ten people favour reunification with the MP. In reality, if there were only a dozen opponents, no one would notice them, no one would oppose them; they’d simply ignore them. The same applies to his accusation that all of them are nobles and unversed in church affairs. That isn’t true. His liberal {“conservative” in the USA: editor} political views dictate a contempt for the nobility. You’ve got to understand that Struve was referring to very well-known people, including professors at St Sergius Theological Institute, experts in theology and church history, and clergymen. In what way did they misunderstand him in church affairs? Apparently, he thinks that everyone who doesn’t share his views is ignorant.
Yelena Mahler-Matyazova
Why are certain émigré circles still guarded towards modern Russia? When one reads their statements about “post-Soviet Russia”, the “post-Soviet Church”, and a supposedly intractable “Soviet mentality”, it seems that they still exist in the Soviet era; they continue the struggles of that period, despite what’s happened in Russia.
Prince Ivan Shakhovskoy
Their critical attitude towards the Soviet Union was the reason for this wariness, it eventually become “traditional”, and, as we’ve seen, it survived up to the present. Nevertheless, this applied only to part of the Russian emigration, because not all shared this attitude, even as far as the Soviet state was concerned. There were those amongst the first émigré wave, those who left Russia in great pain, who were ready to return home at the first opportunity, despite the hostile régime. In particular, warm feelings for Russia intensified during the war… some émigrés sided with the Soviet Union, as evidenced by the fact that, immediately after the war, some of them came back, even under difficult conditions… they couldn’t stand aloof from the fate of their country. I think that if the changes in Russia took place some twenty or thirty years earlier, the parents of those who now oppose reunification with the MP would still be alive. I think that their reactions would’ve been very different. We observe that a critical generation appeared in émigré circles that, in general, didn’t know Russia and didn’t feel a visceral and intuitive tie with it. If they still considered themselves Russian in the ‘40s and ‘50s, today, most of them identify as Frenchmen, they’ve forgotten Russian culture and don’t remember their Russian traditions.
Yelena Mahler-Matyazova
As far as I know, both the emigration itself and the Russian parishes under the EP were considered transitory and irregular, then, we all know of Patriarch Aleksei Rediger’s well-known message in 2003 calling upon “all Russian Orthodox parishes in the diaspora” to return to the Mother Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Prince Ivan Shakhovskoy
In the 20th century, because of the press of events at this time, the émigré Church divided into three main channels. Do recall that parishes overseas, after the Revolution, came under the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). Some of the parishes, through Metropolitan Evlogy’s decision, transferred to the EP, and, incidentally, after the war, for a short time, until the death of Metropolitan Evlogy, were back under Moscow’s omofor. In addition, the overseas parishes of the MP itself continued in existence, they began with the founding in 1931 of Three Holy Hierarchs parish in Paris, the main temple of the MP’s Western Exarchate. You can also mention the Holy Trinity church in Vanves {a suburb of Paris on the Metro line: editor}, whose rector was, incidentally, Archimandrite Sergei Shevich, the uncle of Nikita Alekseyevich Struve. From my point of view, without going into all the canonical details, at that time, all three lines were perfectly sound. Of course, people saw the internal church divisions as transitory and irregular. Indeed, the message of His Holiness Patriarch Aleksei wasn’t an appeal; it responded to foreign parishes that had reached out to us to reunite. This wasn’t due to pressure; it was, truly, their unprompted choice. As we all remember, there was a very important historical event in 2007, the ROCOR reunited with the MP, after which we can say that the majority of Russian parishes abroad overcame their unnatural schism and became part of a unified Russian Church. Yes, some parishes remained in opposition; amongst them were Russian-language parishes that had lost hope in a real Russian resurgence. Overall, the non-jurors weren’t Russian. Most were recent converts to Orthodoxy for this-or-that reason; sometimes, their motivations were simply mundane. Some of these people were illicitly added to parish rolls to ensure a majority of votes at meetings.
Yelena Mahler-Matyazova
Why do we see some protesting the, it would seem to me, natural process of the return of Russian churches to Russian ownership, in particular, St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice? After all, didn’t Russian émigré circles say that they longed for a Russia free of the “Soviet yoke?” Yet, when it did happen, why did they refuse to accept the new Russia?
Prince Ivan Shakhovskoy
A spiritual rebirth began in Russia. Moreover, in my opinion, the only normal reaction of Russian believers to this isn’t just a renewal of association, it’s also proper for them to join in and take part in it. That’s clear-cut and logical. It turns out that Struve’s reaction to all this is quite the opposite… he believes that the most important thing is to preserve one’s independence from Russia at all costs. Related to this is the fact that, over time, a number of foreign parishes established their own ways, a certain set of people formed their own atmosphere. Some of these parishes, such as the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris, began to look more like gathering places, clubs, where people gathered to socialise. They formed a little world to which they’re accustomed to and which they don’t wish to change. Therefore, they view reunion with the MP as some form of weird intrusion.
Yelena Mahler-Matyazova
Ivan Dmitrievich, as a person living in Russia, do you think that modern Russia is undergoing an abnormal spiritual crisis, which some émigré circles constantly reiterate?
Prince Ivan Shakhovskoy
Truly, I don’t understand what they mean when they talk of a spiritual crisis in Russia. In the 20th century, for decades, there was a real spiritual struggle in Russia, clergy and laity willingly died… they died… for their faith. The Church in Russia underwent persecution, it had to fight for survival; this battle built up its spiritual muscles and made it stronger. After all, such an era fulfilled prophecies written down by Ss Seraphim of Sarov and John of Kronshtadt… there’d be terrible persecutions that wouldn’t be avoidable, but they’d carry with them the wherewithal to revive the lost spirituality of Russia. In this, we see the beginning of our spiritual rebirth. Yet, we can see a very real spiritual crisis in the West… for instance, in Struve’s France, Christianity’s increasingly dying out, the churches are empty, no one needs them, so, people use them for other things, or, they fall into ruin. That’s where you can see real spiritual poverty. In this regard, I remembered how, after his visit to Paris, President Dmitri Medvedev said in a press interview that his greatest impression was that he was able to venerate the Saviour’s crown of thorns at Notre Dame. Today, I don’t think that we’d hear the like from any Western president.
9 August 2011
Interfax–Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=interview&div=330
Editor’s Note:
Note the family name of the interviewee… Shakhovskoy. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Orthodox history in the USA has heard of OCA/Metropolia Archbishop John Shakhovskoy (1902-89) of San Francisco. He’s best known for his bon mot, “John Meyendorff’s fine Burgundy… Alexander Schmemann’s sparkling champagne… Thomas Hopko’s a flat Coke”. Most schmidiots think that Vladyki John praised Schmemann… au contraire! Champagne is a drink that one must drink down rapidly; otherwise, there are few things nastier than flat champagne. In short, Vladyki John believed that ADS would be a “flash in the pan”, but as ADS was cruel and nasty to all those who crossed him, he worded his criticism in such a way that no one would be able to “finger” him.
By the way, Ivan von Meyendorff, far from being the colourless “number two” in the Schmemann/Meyendorff duopoly, was actually the more important member of the pair. Ivan Feofilovich wasn’t as enamoured of squiffy “theologians” such as Bulgakov, Florensky, and Vvedensky, which enabled him to smooth over the waters whenever ADS roiled them. In short, von Meyendoff kept his mouth shut… and let ADS prance on centre stage. He was patient… he took over when ADS died… when he passed, Hopko took over and bungled the whole shooting match (he was nothing but an overambitious and underbrained grocer’s son from Endicott NY, he spat on his po-nashemu heritage), leading to the sorry mess that we saw under Erickson and Behr (trust me, Ivan Feofilovich wouldn’t have run the place as badly as his three successors did).
Prince Shakhovskoy slits the throats of the Parisians for the entire world to see. He does it cleanly, neatly, without fuss, and ELEGANTLY. That’s to say, Ivan Dmitrievich proved himself a true scion of one of the most distinguished princely houses in Russia. Here’s what struck me the most, “Truly, I don’t understand what they mean when they talk of a spiritual crisis in Russia. In the 20th century, for decades, there was a real spiritual struggle in Russia, clergy and laity willingly died… they died… for their faith. The Church in Russia underwent persecution, it had to fight for survival; this battle built up its spiritual muscles and made it stronger”. THIS is why we must roll up the OCA, ROCOR, and the Paris groups. We have to join the spiritual powerhouse of the MP. Persecution strengthened the MP; comfortable prosperity, mindless consumption, and bovine passivity, coupled with badly-catechised converts, enervated the other groups named. The rot has spread to all the “members” (in the Elizabethan sense)… from top to bottom. It’s why Jordanville’s no longer self-sufficient (that’s attested by Richfield Springs locals)… it’s why SVS got away with the Iliff coverup.
We need to go home… Ivan Dmitrievich has shown us the way… shall we take it, though?
BMD
Voices from Russia 
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