Sabbatical Wim Coudenys: Religion vs Modernity? Orthodox-Catholic Relations in the Russian Emigration, 1917-1960

Since the 19th century, religious and national identities (seemingly) are in opposition to one another; whereas the latter seen as a sign of modernity, religious identity is dismissed as pre-modern. In reality, however, national and religious identities co-exist, often in symbiosis. This was also the case in ‘unmodern’ Russia, where the exclusive identification of Orthodoxy with Russia, as opposed to ‘Polish’ Catholicism and ‘Ukrainian’ Greek-Catholicism (Uniats), crystallized at the turn of the 20^th century. These blended identities also affected the post-1917 Russian emigration in Western Europe. Orthodoxy became the cornerstone of Russian national identity abroad, and built on the opposition with atheist Bolshevism in Soviet Russia and the (largely) Catholic environment in Western Europe.
The present project wants to study the religious-national relations between Catholics and Orthodox in the Russian emigration in Western Europe during the pre-ecumenical period (1917-1960). This research project focuses on spheres of contact and networks of mutual influence and builds on archival research in Belgium, France, Italy and Germany. These archives are primarily ecclesiastical, and contain reports and other materials on what the relationship ‘on the ground’ was all about, how it was perceived higher up in the hierarchy, and how this hierarchy reacted to this. We are particularly interested in the amalgamation of national and religious identities, the use of the (Ukrainian) Greek-Catholic (Uniate) Church as a model for the (pre-ecumenical) ‘Union of the Churches,’ the phenomenon of ‘conversion’ or ‘apostasy,’ especially among priests and in prominent families. The latter will be exemplified in the history of the extended Maklakov family. Although these examples may hint at entrenched positions, they also testify to the reality of émigré life as a world-in-between, with divided loyalties, perceptions and convictions.