POLITICS
4. ORTHODOX BROTHERHOODS
SOURCE. The researcher on whose work this piece is based wishes to remain anonymous.
An Orthodox brotherhood is officially defined by the Russian Orthodox Church as a parish-based community of lay believers, headed by an elder and guided by a spiritual advisor from the clergy, which undertakes efforts to "rebuild the material and spiritual fabric of Orthodox life." In 1990 a Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods (UOB) was created as a formal church body with the blessing of the Patriarch in order to coordinate the efforts of the brotherhoods.
In practice, brotherhoods were autonomous groups which pursued divergent goals and rarely limited their membership to a single parish. Some were politically moderate or neutral, while others propagated radical nationalist, monarchist, and fundamentalist views. In 1991-92 radical nationalist brotherhoods, especially the Union "Christian Revival" (UCR)(1) and the Sergiev-Posad Brotherhood of St. Sergei of Radonezh, took control of the UOB, with the result that moderate and non-political brotherhoods gradually left the organization.
In 1994 the church hierarchy tried to reassert control over the UOB. A Bishops' Council instituted stricter rules for the registration of brotherhoods and ordered the UOB to revise its own rules. To be registered a brotherhood had to draw its members from a single parish, so most brotherhoods were forced to choose between giving up many of their members and giving up affiliation with the church. Radical nationalist brotherhoods did not disappear and continued their activity outside the church, but all grassroots initiatives inside the church were greatly weakened. The official brotherhood movement is today a faint shadow of its former self.
The nationalist brotherhoods are divided into relatively moderate brotherhoods such as the UCR and the Union of Orthodox Citizens, which avoid close ties with fascist movements, and more extreme brotherhoods which do form part of the general fascist milieu. Examples of the latter include the Resurrection Orthodox Brotherhood, the Oprichnina Brotherhood of St. Joseph Volotsky (2) (with branches in Volgograd, St. Petersburg -- and Sacramento!), and the Union of Orthodox Banner-Bearers, a "charismatic military movement" taking its inspiration from the pre-revolutionary Union of the Russian People (Black Hundreds) and Society of Banner-Bearers.
Since August 2000 the UOB has been headed by Leonid Simonovich, one of the founders of the Union of Orthodox Banner-Bearers. The UOB's periodical "Holy Rus" continues to fulminate against Jews, Satanists, heretics, ecumenists, and other enemies of the true faith.
Notes
(1) For an account of the Union "Christian Rebirth" see Stephen D. Shenfield, Russian Fascism: Traditions, Tendencies, Movements (M.E. Sharpe, 2001), pp. 244-248.
(2) The original oprichnina was the special punitive corps of Ivan the Terrible.
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