Избрание в Москве в 1943 г. Патриарха: пропагандистский ответ по другую сторону фронта
The famous meeting of Stalin with metropolitans in September 1943 and the subsequent elections in Moscow of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) for many meant a major change in the religious policy of the Soviet authorities. This event could not pass unnoticed on the other side of the front too. Nazi propagandists, particularly in the frontal regions have intensified their propaganda in the key fact disavowal election in Moscow Patriarch, emphasizing uncanonical current events and capitalizing on the issue of real and contrived cooperation leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet authorities, including NKVD. However, this position is not widely supported by both prominent church leaders (except representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and some autocephalists ) and ordinary Orthodox believers.
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