Alexey L’vovich Beglov,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Archive of Secret Monastic Communities of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery: Formation History and Composition
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-2-5
The article provides an overview of the archive of secret monastic communities that arose in the 1920s in the Moscow Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery. The archive is a large documentary collection created by the believers themselves and covering the life of the largest secret monastic community of the Soviet period known to us today. The archive has a complex structure since its parts characterize the activities of various spiritual mentors. The archive was made up of several personal documentary collections of members of the Petrovsky community, which, however, are closely interrelated. The core of this collection consists of the sayings of spiritual mentors (startsy) preserved in various forms (letters, collections of sayings, paterik). The content of the documents of the Vysoko-Petrovsky archive is primarily ascetic. This is consistent with the task set by the fathers of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, who sought to preserve the monastic tradition even in conditions of persecution.
Publishing: 28/02/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 25.01.2023
How to cite: Beglov A.L. Archive of Secret Monastic Communities of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery: Formation History and Composition // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 2 (28), pp. 59–73. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-2-05.pdf]
Links: Issue 2 2023
Keywords: history of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th century, secret monastic communities, Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, sources on the history of the Church, church archives