Debate on the Patriarchate
Russian Orthodox Council (Sobor), Debate on the Establishment of the Patriarchate. October 16, 1917
Original Source: Russkie vedomosti, No. 236, 17 October 1917, pp. 5-6.
Apparently the majority of the members of the Sobor are in favor of restoring the Patriarchate in Russia. Some express themselves against it since they regard the Patriarchate as a monarchical venture.
The discussion of the question began with a declaration by Prof. N. D. Kuznetsov, who criticized the report of Bishop Mitrofan of Astrakhan' on the Patriarchate.
N. D. Kuznetsov stated that the report failed to make clear and to formulate the question on the Patriarchate. It is not known what church institutions will be headed by the Patriarchate. There may be one and there may be several. The report states that the Patriarchate will be responsible to the Sobor. Precisely what it means and to what extent the Patriarchate must give a report to the administration are unknown. Only general considerations are mentioned in the report. Consequently they cannot be subjected to a vote inasmuch as it will not solve but confuse the issue.
V. G. Rubtsov, member of the Sobor, made a speech directed chiefly against the episcopate. In his opinion the salvation of the Russian Church resides not in the Patriarchate but in greater democracy and the elective factor, in the total vote of the Church and in a wide Sobor administration.
Prince Chagadaev, member of the Sobor, stated in his speech that individual authority in church life is not suitable. All church matters and all church measures must be weighed and discussed collectively.
The opponents of the Patriarchate were opposed by a great many speakers. Bishop Mitrofan of Astrakhan' said that the essential church question now is the question of restoring the Patriarchate in Russia since this institution is profoundly bound with the church life of Russia. The Patriarch is the president of the Sobor and of the Synod. He calls the sobors, both the periodic ones and the extraordinary ones. He is a vital part of the Church. The Patriarch has a place at the Sobor and after the Sobor. The Patriarch is an executive organ of authority at the Sobor, but he is not an embodiment of the entire authority. Thus in church life the Patriarch is a hierarch, as are his colleagues the bishops. The Patriarch is responsible to the Sobor: he reports to it of his activity and of the activity of the organs of Sobor administration. And the best guarantees that the Patriarch will be unable to be despotic and absolute are the Sobor and the Synod.
In view of the late hour, the discussion of the question is postponed to the next session of the Sobor.
Source: Robert Paul Browder and Alexander F. Kerensky, eds., The Russian Provisional Government, 1917: Documents (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961), Vol. II, p. 829.