“A revolutionary impetus was needed to launch a transformative movement in the Church…”

Alexander Vladimirovich Mazyrin is a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, Doctor of Theology, Doctor of Church History, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Professor and Chief Researcher at St. Tikhon's Orthodox University for the Humanities. He specializes in the history of the Russian Church in the 20th century and its relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and other Local Churches.
An interview was arranged during the scholar's visit to Omsk in May 2025 and it was recorded in Moscow in January 2026. The conversation focuses on the history of the Russian Church during the era of social upheaval with a particular focus on the issue of Church reforms, Renovationism and the politicization of the Church. The nature of a number of phenomena is clarified. A comparison of the political positions of two saints of Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and Archbishop Sylvester of Omsk is made and the circumstances of the latter's death are discussed.

1. Sushko A. V. Critical notes on the religious factor during the Civil War in Russia: On the theoretical and methodological aspect of the problem. Tomsk State University Journal. 2023;490:141–152. https://doi.org/10.17223/15617793/490/16. EDN: UZYPAU. (In Russ.).

2. Religioznyy faktor v gody Grazhdanskoy voyny v Rossii: fenomen, znacheniye, regional’naya spetsifika / ed. by A. S. Puchenkov. Saint Petersburg, 2024. 572 p. ISBN 978-5-288-06375-6. EDN: YCGFEO. (In Russ.).

3. Stelmak M. M., Petin D. I. Russian Revolution: Word and Deed [Review on: Words and conflicts: The language of confrontation and the escalation of the Civil War in Russia. St. Petersburg: EUSP Press, 2022. 328 p. (The Age of Wars and Revolutions; num. 16)]. Modern History of Russia. 2024;14(1):189–201. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu24.2024.112. EDN: AAZMSD. (In Russ.).

4. Akt ob otrechenii Gosudarya Imperatora Nikolaya II ot prestola Gosudarstva Rossiyskogo za sebya i za syna v pol’zu Velikogo Knyazya Mikhaila Aleksandrovicha. Tserkovnyye Vedomosti. 1917;9-15:55–56. (In Russ.).

5. Rogoznyy P. G. Tserkovnaya revolyutsiya 1917 goda (vyssheye dukhovenstvo Rossiyskoy tserkvi v bor’be za vlast’ v eparkhiyakh posle Fevral’skoy revolyutsii). Saint Petersburg, 2008. 224 p. ISBN 978-5-87417-296-1. EDN: RYVPPH. (In Russ.).

6. Sokolov A. V. Pravoslavnaya Rossiyskaya Tserkov’ v epokhu velikikh potryaseniy (1917–1918 gg.). Moscow, 2024. 920 p. ISBN 978-5-6041171-4-9. (In Russ.).

7. Otdeleniye Tserkvi ot gosudarstva i shkoly ot Tserkvi v Sovetskoy Rossii. Oktyabr’ 1917–1918 g. Moscow, 2016. 941 p. ISBN 978-5-7429-1007-7. (In Russ.)

8. Krapivin M. Yu. The Discussion about Creation of the “Soviet” Orthodox Church in Leading Circles of Bolshevist Party and the Soviet State (1919–1921). Modern History of Russia. 2016;2(16):277–298. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu24.2016.215. EDN: WWQRWP. (In Russ.).

9. Mazyrin A. V., Smolyakova I. N. “The fewer wise spiritual men there are, the more advantageous it would be for us”. Documents of the Secret-Operational Department of the GPU Relating to the work on the schism of the Russian Church in 1922. Bulletin of the Ekaterinburg Theological Seminary. 2020;3(31):369–378. https://doi.org/10.24411/2224-5391-2020-10316. EDN: FDTUMF. (In Russ.).

10. Savin A. I. “It is necessary to act with extreme caution in order to protect the soviet authorities from any accusations of interference in religious affairs”. An unknown document of the state political directorate on instigating the split in the Russian Orthodox Church. Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Sviato-Tikhonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta. Seriia II: Istoriia. Istoriia Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi. 2024;116:147–155. https://doi.org/10.15382/sturII2024116.147–155. EDN: UQYHFT. (In Russ.).

11. Vorontsova I. V. The journal Sobornyi Razum as a source on the history of renovationism in 1918. Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Sviato-Tikhonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta. Seriia II: Istoriia. Istoriia Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi. 2021;102:77–109. https://doi.org/10.15382/sturII2021102.77–109. EDN: UQYHFT. (In Russ.).

12. Stel’mak M. M. Vklad byvshikh belykh ofitserov v razvitiye i kul’turu sovetskogo Omska v 1920-e gg. Omskiye Sotsial’noGumanitarnyye Chteniya-2023. Omsk, 2023. P. 124–129. EDN: AQMKHI. (In Russ.).

13. Petin D. I., Stelmak M. M., Sushko A. V. “Gold chasers” in Soviet Russia: A collective social portrait of former White officers in the 1920s (on the example of Omsk). Tomsk State University Journal. 2023;486:165–175. https://doi.org/10.17223/15617793/486/18. EDN: IWQMWV. (In Russ.).

14. Sushko A. V., Petin D. I. Former officers socialized into the clergy in 1920s Soviet society (The case of the Ukrainian SSR). Rusin. 2025;81:187–201. https://doi.org/10.17223/18572685/81/8. EDN: AJHTZS. (In Russ.).

15. Babkin M. A. Svyashchenstvo i tsarstvo (Rossiya, nachalo XX v.–1918 g.). Issledovaniya i materialy. Moscow, 2011. 920 p. ISBN 978-5-91674-077-6. EDN: QVSMTD. (In Russ.).

16. Stelmak M. M. “The supreme ruler of the White Russia A. V. Kolchak: personality and memory”: a round table at the center of studying the history of the Civil War. Northern Archives and Expeditions. 2025;9(2):63–73. EDN: UYRVGN. (In Russ.).

17. Petin D. I. Istoriya omskogo roda Batyushkinykh. 2nd ed., corrected and revised. Omsk, 2025. 160 p. ISBN 978-5-8042-0918-7. EDN: SPBCSK. (In Russ.).

18. Sushko A. V. Politicheskaya deyatel’nost’ Omskogo eparkhial’nogo sobraniya v iyune 1918 g. Civil War in Eastern Russia: A Look through Documentary Heritage. Omsk, 2023. P. 333–339. EDN: OOSHMI. (In Russ.).

19. Sibirskoye Sobornoye soveshchaniye 1918 goda: materialy [Siberian Cathedral Conference of 1918: materials] / ed. by Archpriest D. V. Olikhov. Moscow: Spasskoe delo, 2020. 221 p. (In Russ.).

20. Panina M. F. «Ego bol’she ne trogali»: legenda o muchenicheskoy konchine arkhiyepiskopa Sil’vestra v 1920 g. Izvestiya Omskogo Gosudarstvennogo Istoriko-Krayevedcheskogo Muzeya. 2014;19:123–126. EDN: YASUOT. (In Russ.).

21. Akt sudebno-meditsinskogo issledovaniya ostankov cheloveka, obnaruzhennykh 21.07.2005 g. pri provedenii raskopok v skvere Pionerov po ul. Internatsional’noy v g. Omske. Vestnik Omskoy Pravoslavnoy Dukhovnoy Seminarii. 2020;1(8):154–189. (In Russ.).

22. Berezin M. A. New Information on the Circumstances of the Death of Sylvester (Olshevsky), Archbishop of Omsk and Pavlodar. Tserkov’. Bogoslovie. Istoriia = Church. Theology. History. 2026;7:140–153. EDN: QGCDYW. (In Russ.)

23. Khrapova N. S., Sushko A. V. Aktovaya zapis’ o smerti arkhiyepiskopa Sil’vestra (Ol’shevskogo): nekotoryye aspekty analiza istochnika. Civil War in Eastern Russia: A Look through Documentary Heritage. Omsk, 2019. P. 299–304. EDN: QYLHQN. (In Russ.).

24. Patriarshiy kalendar’ na 2019 god s prilozheniyem. Moscow, 2018. 526 p. (In Russ.).

25. Shumilo S. V. Formation of the UAOC’s Hierarchy in 1990 and Self-Proclaimed “Bishop” Vikenty Chekalin. Tserkov’ i Vremya. 2020;3(92):154–212. EDN: ENADYI. (In Russ.).